Heinz L. Sänger

RNA-directed de novo methylation of genomic sequences in plants

One monomeric and three oligomeric potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) cDNA units were introduced into the tobacco genome via the Agrobacterium-mediated leaf-disc transformation. Southern analysis of the integrates revealed that only their PSTVd-specific sequences become fully methylated, whereas the flanking T-DNA and the genomic plant DNA remain unaltered. Viroid cDNA methylation could only be observed after autonomous viroid RNA-RNA replication had taken place in these plants. These findings demonstrate that a mechanism of de novo methylation of genes might exist that can be induced and targeted in a sequence-specific manner by their own mRNA.

Isolation of an RNA-Directed RNA Polymerase–Specific cDNA Clone from Tomato

A 3600-bp RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP)–specific cDNA comprising an open reading frame (ORF) of 1114 amino acids was isolated from tomato. The putative protein encoded by this ORF does not share homology with any characterized proteins. Antibodies that were raised against synthetic peptides whose sequences have been deduced from the ORF were shown to specifically detect the 127-kD tomato RdRP protein. The immunoresponse to the antibodies correlated with the enzymatic activity profile of the RdRP after chromatography on Q-, poly(A)–, and poly(U)–Sepharose, hydroxyapatite, and Sephadex G-200 columns. DNA gel blot analysis revealed a single copy of the RdRP gene in tomato. RdRP homologs from petunia, Arabidopsis, tobacco, and wheat were identified by using polymerase chain reaction. A sequence comparison indicated that sequences homologous to RdRP are also present in the yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe and in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. The previously described induction of RdRP activity upon viroid infection is shown to be correlated with an increased steady state level of the corresponding mRNA. The possible involvement of this heretofore functionally elusive plant RNA polymerase in homology-dependent gene silencing is discussed.

Correlation between structure and pathogenicity of potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV).

Sequence analysis by primer‐extension at the level of their cDNA showed that the RNA genomes of various field isolates of potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) of different virulence differ from each other only in a few nucleotides in two distinct regions of the rod‐shaped molecule. Despite insertions and deletions the chain length of 359 nucleotides is strictly conserved in all the isolates studied. Thermodynamic calculations revealed that due to the observed sequence differences the region located at the left hand part of the rod‐like secondary structure of the PSTV molecule, denoted ‘virulence modulating (VM) region’, becomes increasingly unstable with the increasing virulence of the corresponding isolate. Based on these data we propose in molecular terms a model for the mechanism of viroid pathogenicity. It implies that the nucleotides of the VM region specify and modulate the binding‐ and hence the competition‐potential of the PSTV RNA molecule for a still unknown host factor(s) and thus determine the virulence of PSTV.

Viroid replication is inhibited by α-amanitin

VIROIDS are infectious single-stranded circular RNA molecules1 which cause disease in higher Plants. Although the complete molecular structure of one viroid has recently been established2, the mechanism of viroid replication and patho-genesis is still unknown. The viroid molecule carries insufficient genetic information to code for a complete viroid-specified replicase. Replication must therefore depend on host cell enzymes. We report here the inhibition by α-amanitin, of 3H-uridine incorporation into viroid RNA in infected tomato protoplasts. The inhibitory intracellular concentrations of α-amanitin which we determined suggest the involvement of the nuclear DNA-dependent RNA polymerase II in viroid replication.

An infectious viroid RNA replicon evolved from an in vitro-generated non-infectious viroid deletion mutant via a complementary deletion in vivo.

The 359 nucleotides (nt) long potato spindle tuber prototype viroid (PSTVd) is sensitive to experimentally introduced mutations as the substitution or deletion of a single nucleotide usually abolishes its infectivity, although certain sequence alterations are tolerated. This is illustrated by the fact that viroid progeny can evolve in planta upon inoculation with substitution mutants generated in vitro, and by the existence of genetically stable 356‐360 nt long PSTVd field isolates. However, to date, no viable in vitro‐generated deletion mutant of PSTVd has been reported. We have now found a 341 nt long infectious PSTVd RNA replicon that evolved in agrotransformed plants transformed with the dimeric form of an in vitro‐deleted, non‐infectious 350 bp long PSTVd cDNA unit by an additional complementary deletion of 9 nt in vivo. This is the first report that the deletion‐abolished infectivity of a viroid is restored by an additional deletion that concurrently restabilized its perturbed secondary structure by abandoning an internal segment of the rod‐like molecule. The fact that approximately 5% of the total PSTVd RNA genome was deleted demonstrates that the maintenance of this viroid‐specific rod‐like structure is not only essential for nuclease protection but also for the infectivity, i.e. transmissibility, replicability, processibility and pathogenicity of these minimal infectious agents.

Subcellular localization of viroids in highly purified nuclei from tomato leaf tissue.

Approximately 95% of the viroid RNA which is present in potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV)‐infected tomato plant leaf issue, is associated with the nucleolar fraction obtained from purified nuclei. Viroids were released from the nucleolar fraction by increasing the ionic strength of the medium to 0.66 suggesting that viroid RNA is present in these subnuclear components in a protein‐nucleic acid complex. A purification procedure for nuclei from leaf tissue had to be newly developed; it involves two Percoll density centrifugations as final steps. The nuclei were sonicated and the sonicate fractionated into fractions either highly enriched in nucleoli or in broken chromatin and ribonucleoprotein particles. The viroid content in the different samples was determined by gel electrophoresis. Depending upon the progress of the disease, viroid copy numbers between 200 and 10,000 per cell were observed in homogenized tissue, purified nuclei and in the nucleolar fraction. In chloroplasts, practically no viroids were detected. The results are discussed in the light of current hypotheses about the replication, pathogenicity and origin of viroids.

Infectivity studies on different potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) RNAs synthesized in vitro with the SP6 transcription system.

We have constructed two sets of clones in which one to six head‐to‐tail connected DNA copies of the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) RNA genome were inserted into the plasmid pSP62‐ PL downstream of the promoter for SP6 RNA polymerase. In vitro transcription of these constructs with the promoter‐specific SP6 RNA polymerase yielded the corresponding oligomeric single‐stranded linear PSTV RNA molecules of (+) and (−) polarity. Except for short vector‐derived terminal sequences these in vitro synthesized PSTV RNA forms are equivalent to the RNA intermediates of the PSTV replication cycle which are present in vivo only in extremely low concentrations. From each DNA template molecule up to 600 RNA copies could be transcribed in vitro and yields > 100 µg were obtained. When mechanically inoculated to tomato seedlings the PSTV (+) RNA oligomers were as infectious as the natural PSTV (+) RNA monomers. Surprisingly, the corresponding oligomeric PSTV (−) RNAs were ˜104‐fold less infectious. However, when these (−) RNAs were partially protected prior to inoculation by mixing or hybridizing them with non‐infectious (+) RNA fragments or by ‘capping’ their 5′ terminus, an increase in the number of infections was observed. The in vitro synthesis of infectious RNA from cloned cDNA means that, in principle, it should be possible to develop vector systems from pathogens with RNA genomes.

Detection of complementary RNA intermediates of viroid replication by Northern blot hybridization

Molecular hybridization by the Northern blot technique in combination with 125I-labeled PSTV (+) RNA and 32P-labeled PSTV cDNA as probes has been applied to detect viroid-specific sequences in healthy and viroid(PSTV)-infected tomato plants. Conditions are described which allow differentiation of (+) and (-) viroid sequences on the basis of the different thermostabilities of the corresponding hybrid molecules. By this experimental approach, it is documented that no viroid-specific DNA sequences can be detected and that viroid replication proceeds via complementary RNA intermediates. Out of the seven (-) RNA species found, six are apparently larger than the circular viroid (+) RNA and one is about the same size as the linear (+) RNA molecule.

The 7S RNA from tomato leaf tissue resembles a signal recognition particle RNA and exhibits a remarkable sequence complementarity to viroids.

From tomato leaf tissue we sequenced and characterized a 7S RNA which consists of 299 nucleotides with either two or three additional uridine nucleotides at its 3′‐terminus. About 56% of the nucleotides of this higher plant 7S RNA are in nearly identical positions as those of the human 7SL RNA which is an integral component of the signal recognition particle (SRP) that mediates protein translocation. Computer modelling and digestion studies with nucleases led to a secondary structure model for tomato 7S RNA, the overall shape of which is very similar to that of the human 7SL (SRP) RNA. This structural similarity strongly suggests that tomato 7S RNA is actually an SRP RNA and an integral part of the plant SRP, and that the protein translocation system of higher plants is very similar to the one operating in mammalian cells. Tomato SRP RNA contains a stretch of 36‐53 nucleotides which exhibit a high degree of sequence complementarity to five viroid ‘species’ that cause disease in tomato. In the case of potato spindle tuber viroid and citrus exocortis viroid this complementarity spans the lower strand of the region, the nucleotides of which are known to modulate virulence. This extensive sequence complementarity could lead to a thermodynamically favoured base‐pairing in vivo which renders the tomato SRP RNA a possible host target with which viroids could interact and thus incite disease.

Linear oligomeric potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) RNAs are accurately processed in vitro to the monomeric circular viroid proper when incubated with a nuclear extract from healthy potato cells

A nuclear extract for the processing of oligomeric viroid RNA in vitro has been prepared from nuclei isolated from healthy potato cells grown in suspension culture. Linear RNA molecules containing concatameric units of (+) or (−) strands, respectively, of the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTV) were synthesized in vitro with the aid of the SP6 RNA polymerase and used as substrates for processing. When oligomeric linear PSTV (+)RNAs are incubated with the nuclear extract, monomeric linear molecules are accurately excised from them, and ligated to monomeric PSTV (+)RNA circles representing the viroid proper. Oligomeric PSTV (−)RNAs are likewise processed but with a much lower efficiency. Viroid‐processing operates although other nucleolytic activities are still present in the extract. These results substantiate our previous finding that oligomeric PSTV does not process autocatalytically under in vitro conditions where certain introns and other RNAs do. This is the first report of an in vitro RNA processing system derived from higher plants.