Zhou Xueping

The pathogenicity on legumes of Cucumber mosaic virus was determined by 243 nucleotides on 2a polymerase gene of viral RNA2

We had isolated and identified two Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) isolates, the CMV red bean (CMV-RB) isolate and the CMV pea (CMV-P1) isolate. CMV-RB induces necrotic local lesions on inoculated leaves of broad bean, pea, cowpea and bean, and could not infect these hosts systemically. However, CMV-P1 was able to infect these legumes systemically. To study the difference of pathogenicity on the legumes induced by these two CMV isolates, the full-length infectious cDNA clones of CMV-Fny, which induced similar symptoms as CMV-RB in the four legumes, were used. The 243 nucleotides fragment, which encodes highly conserved GDD amino acid motif on 2a replicase gene of CMV-Fny RNA2, was replaced with that of CMV-P1. The constructed chimeric virus FP could infect these legumes systemically. The exchange of this region changes the virus symptoms on the legumes, indicating that this 243 nucleotides fragment has major effect on pathogenicity of CMV on the legumes.

Complete nucleotide sequence and genome organization of tobacco mosaic virus isolated from Vicia faba

Based on reported TMV-U1 sequence, primers were designed and fragments covering the entire genome of TMV broad bean strain (TMV-B) were obtained with RT-PCR. These fragments were cloned and sequenced and the 5’ and 3’ end sequences of genome were confirmed with RACE. The complete sequence of TMV-B comprises 6 395 nucleotides (nt) and four open reading frames, which correspond to 126 ku (1 116 amino acids), 183 ku (1 616 amino acids), 30 ku (268 amino acids) and 17.5 ku proteins (159 amino acids). The complete nucleotide sequence of TMV-B is 99.4% identical to that of TMV-U1. The two virus isolates share the same sequence of 5’, 3’ non-coding region and 17.5 K ORF, and 6, 1 and 3 amino acid changes are found in 126 K protein, 54 K protein and 30 K protein, respectively. The possible mechanism on the infection of TMV-B inVicia faba is discussed.

Modification of a viral satellite DNA-based gene silencing vector and its application to leaf or flower color change in Petunia hybrida

Virus-induced gene silencing offers a powerful reverse-genetic tool for the study of gene function in plants. We have previously reported effective gene silencing of plant genes using a viral satellite DNA associated with Tomato yellow leaf curl China virus (TYLCCNV). In this study, we further modified the viral satellite DNA-based vector. The modified vector can induce sulfu (Su) gene silencing as effective as the original vector in Nicotiana benthamiana plants, but the new system simplifies procedures for construction of vector derivative. Furthermore, a fragment of petunia Su or chalcone synthase (CHS) endogenous gene was inserted into the modified vector. When petunia plants were agroinoculated with the modified vector carrying a Su or CHS gene, the Su silenced plants started to appear yellowing in veins of systemically infected upper leaves two weeks after agroinoculation, while the CHS silenced plants started to show flower color change one month after agroinoculation and later single-color flowers became mosaic.

Application of Next-Generation Sequencing Technology for Plant Virus Identification

Next-generation sequencing technology (NGS) has been used as a powerful tool for studies on plant pathogens, especially for plant virus identification. NGS is sequence-independent and culture-independent approach, which can be used for detection of RNA viruses, DNA viruses and viroid simultaneously in a plant sample which contains very low titers. Diagnostic for plant viruses is easy by using this revolutionary technology. In the past few years, NGS has been successfully used for survey and identification of viruses in numerous plant species. In this review, we discuss the application and future perspective of NGS in plant virus identification.