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Two plant viral suppressors of silencing require the ethylene-inducible host transcription factor RAV2 to block RNA silencing.

ABSTRACT: RNA silencing is a highly conserved pathway in the network of interconnected defense responses that are activated during viral infection. As a counter-defense, many plant viruses encode proteins that block silencing, often also interfering with endogenous small RNA pathways. However, the mechanism of action of viral suppressors is not well understood and the role of host factors in the process is just beginning to emerge. Here we report that the ethylene-inducible transcription factor RAV2 is required for suppression of RNA silencing by two unrelated plant viral proteins, potyvirus HC-Pro and carmovirus P38. Using a hairpin transgene silencing system, we find that both viral suppressors require RAV2 to block the activity of primary siRNAs, whereas suppression of transitive silencing is RAV2-independent. RAV2 is also required for many HC-Pro-mediated morphological anomalies in transgenic plants, but not for the associated defects in the microRNA pathway. Whole genome tiling microarray experiments demonstrate that expression of genes known to be required for silencing is unchanged in HC-Pro plants, whereas a striking number of genes involved in other biotic and abiotic stress responses are induced, many in a RAV2-dependent manner. Among the genes that require RAV2 for induction by HC-Pro are FRY1 and CML38, genes implicated as endogenous suppressors of silencing. These findings raise the intriguing possibility that HC-Pro-suppression of silencing is not caused by decreased expression of genes that are required for silencing, but instead, by induction of stress and defense responses, some components of which interfere with antiviral silencing. Furthermore, the observation that two unrelated viral suppressors require the activity of the same factor to block silencing suggests that RAV2 represents a control point that can be readily subverted by viruses to block antiviral silencing.

SUBMITTER: Endres MW

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2800190 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Two plant viral suppressors of silencing require the ethylene-inducible host transcription factor RAV2 to block RNA silencing.

Endres Matthew W MW Gregory Brian D BD Gao Zhihuan Z Foreman Amy Wahba AW Mlotshwa Sizolwenkosi S Ge Xin X Pruss Gail J GJ Ecker Joseph R JR Bowman Lewis H LH Vance Vicki V

PLoS pathogens 20100115 1

RNA silencing is a highly conserved pathway in the network of interconnected defense responses that are activated during viral infection. As a counter-defense, many plant viruses encode proteins that block silencing, often also interfering with endogenous small RNA pathways. However, the mechanism of action of viral suppressors is not well understood and the role of host factors in the process is just beginning to emerge. Here we report that the ethylene-inducible transcription factor RAV2 is re ...[more]

PMID: 20084269

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Project description:Primary infection of a plant with a pathogen that causes high accumulation of salicylic acid in the plant typically via a hypersensitive response confers enhanced resistance against secondary infection with a broad spectrum of pathogens, including viruses. This phenomenon is called systemic acquired resistance (SAR), which is a plant priming for adaption to repeated biotic stress. However, the molecular mechanisms of SAR-mediated enhanced inhibition, especially of virus infection, remain unclear. Here, we show that SAR against cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) in tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum) involves a calmodulin-like protein, rgs-CaM. We previously reported the antiviral function of rgs-CaM, which binds to and directs degradation of viral RNA silencing suppressors (RSSs), including CMV 2b, via autophagy. We found that rgs-CaM-mediated immunity is ineffective against CMV infection in normally growing tobacco plants but is activated as a result of SAR induction via salicylic acid signaling. We then analyzed the effect of overexpression of rgs-CaM on salicylic acid signaling. Overexpressed and ectopically expressed rgs-CaM induced defense reactions, including cell death, generation of reactive oxygen species, and salicylic acid signaling. Further analysis using a combination of the salicylic acid analogue benzo-(1,2,3)-thiadiazole-7-carbothioic acid S-methyl ester (BTH) and the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 revealed that rgs-CaM functions as an immune receptor that induces salicylic acid signaling by simultaneously perceiving both viral RSS and Ca2+ influx as infection cues, implying its autoactivation. Thus, secondary infection of SAR-induced tobacco plants with CMV seems to be effectively inhibited through 2b recognition and degradation by rgs-CaM, leading to reinforcement of antiviral RNA silencing and other salicylic acid-mediated antiviral responses.IMPORTANCE Even without an acquired immune system like that in vertebrates, plants show enhanced whole-plant resistance against secondary infection with pathogens; this so-called systemic acquired resistance (SAR) has been known for more than half a century and continues to be extensively studied. SAR-induced plants strongly and rapidly express a number of antibiotics and pathogenesis-related proteins targeted against secondary infection, which can account for enhanced resistance against bacterial and fungal pathogens but are not thought to control viral infection. This study showed that enhanced resistance against cucumber mosaic virus is caused by a tobacco calmodulin-like protein, rgs-CaM, which detects and counteracts the major viral virulence factor (RNA silencing suppressor) after SAR induction. rgs-CaM-mediated SAR illustrates the growth versus defense trade-off in plants, as it targets the major virulence factor only under specific biotic stress conditions, thus avoiding the cost of constitutive activation while reducing the damage from virus infection.

Project description:Viral encoded RNA silencing suppressor proteins interfere with the host RNA silencing machinery, facilitating viral infection by evading host immunity. In plant hosts, the viral proteins have several basic science implications and biotechnology applications. However in silico identification of these proteins is limited by their high sequence diversity. In this study we developed supervised learning based classification models for plant viral RNA silencing suppressor proteins in plant viruses. We developed four classifiers based on supervised learning algorithms: J48, Random Forest, LibSVM and Naïve Bayes algorithms, with enriched model learning by correlation based feature selection. Structural and physicochemical features calculated for experimentally verified primary protein sequences were used to train the classifiers. The training features include amino acid composition; auto correlation coefficients; composition, transition, and distribution of various physicochemical properties; and pseudo amino acid composition. Performance analysis of predictive models based on 10 fold cross-validation and independent data testing revealed that the Random Forest based model was the best and achieved 86.11% overall accuracy and 86.22% balanced accuracy with a remarkably high area under the Receivers Operating Characteristic curve of 0.95 to predict viral RNA silencing suppressor proteins. The prediction models for plant viral RNA silencing suppressors can potentially aid identification of novel viral RNA silencing suppressors, which will provide valuable insights into the mechanism of RNA silencing and could be further explored as potential targets for designing novel antiviral therapeutics. Also, the key subset of identified optimal features may help in determining compositional patterns in the viral proteins which are important determinants for RNA silencing suppressor activities. The best prediction model developed in the study is available as a freely accessible web server pVsupPred at http://bioinfo.icgeb.res.in/pvsup/.

Dataset Information

Two plant viral suppressors of silencing require the ethylene-inducible host transcription factor RAV2 to block RNA silencing.

Publications

Two plant viral suppressors of silencing require the ethylene-inducible host transcription factor RAV2 to block RNA silencing.

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