Dataset Information

Genetic insights into Graminella nigrifrons Competence for maize fine streak virus infection and transmission.

ABSTRACT: Most plant-infecting rhabdoviruses are transmitted by one or a few closely related insect species. Additionally, intraspecific differences in transmission efficacy often exist among races/biotypes within vector species and among strains within a virus species. The black-faced leafhopper, Graminella nigrifrons, is the only known vector of the persistent propagative rhabdovirus Maize fine streak virus (MFSV). Only a small percentage of leafhoppers are capable of transmitting the virus, although the mechanisms underlying vector competence are not well understood.RNA-Seq was carried out to explore transcript expression changes and sequence variation in G. nigrifrons and MFSV that may be associated with the ability of the vector to acquire and transmit the virus. RT-qPCR assays were used to validate differential transcript accumulation.Feeding on MFSV-infected maize elicited a considerable transcriptional response in G. nigrifrons, with increased expression of cytoskeleton organization and immunity transcripts in infected leafhoppers. Differences between leafhoppers capable of transmitting MFSV, relative to non-transmitting but infected leafhoppers were more limited, which may reflect difficulties discerning between the two groups and/or the likelihood that the transmitter phenotype results from one or a few genetic differences. The ability of infected leafhoppers to transmit MFSV did not appear associated with virus transcript accumulation in the infected leafhoppers or sequence polymorphisms in the viral genome. However, the non-structural MFSV 3 gene was expressed at unexpectedly high levels in infected leafhoppers, suggesting it plays an active role in the infection of the insect host. The results of this study begin to define the functional roles of specific G. nigrifrons and MFSV genes in the viral transmission process.

SUBMITTER: Cassone BJ

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4242632 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Genetic insights into Graminella nigrifrons Competence for maize fine streak virus infection and transmission.

Cassone Bryan J BJ Cisneros Carter Fiorella M FM Michel Andrew P AP Stewart Lucy R LR Redinbaugh Margaret G MG

PloS one 20141124 11

<h4>Background</h4>Most plant-infecting rhabdoviruses are transmitted by one or a few closely related insect species. Additionally, intraspecific differences in transmission efficacy often exist among races/biotypes within vector species and among strains within a virus species. The black-faced leafhopper, Graminella nigrifrons, is the only known vector of the persistent propagative rhabdovirus Maize fine streak virus (MFSV). Only a small percentage of leafhoppers are capable of transmitting the ...[more]

PMID: 25420026

Similar Datasets

Project description:Single-stranded (ss) DNA viruses in the family Geminiviridae are proving to be very useful in real-time evolution studies. The high mutation rate of geminiviruses and other ssDNA viruses is somewhat mysterious in that their DNA genomes are replicated in host nuclei by high fidelity host polymerases. Although strand specific mutation biases observed in virus species from the geminivirus genus Mastrevirus indicate that the high mutation rates in viruses in this genus may be due to mutational processes that operate specifically on ssDNA, it is currently unknown whether viruses from other genera display similar strand specific mutation biases. Also, geminivirus genomes frequently recombine with one another and an alternative cause of their high mutation rates could be that the recombination process is either directly mutagenic or produces a selective environment in which the survival of mutants is favoured. To investigate whether there is an association between recombination and increased basal mutation rates or increased degrees of selection favoring the survival of mutations, we compared the mutation dynamics of the MSV-MatA and MSV-VW field isolates of Maize streak virus (MSV; Mastrevirus), with both a laboratory constructed MSV recombinant, and MSV recombinants closely resembling MSV-MatA. To determine whether strand specific mutation biases are a general characteristic of geminivirus evolution we compared mutation spectra arising during these MSV experiments with those arising during similar experiments involving the geminivirus Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (Begomovirus genus).Although both the genomic distribution of mutations and the occurrence of various convergent mutations at specific genomic sites indicated that either mutation hotspots or selection for adaptive mutations might elevate observed mutation rates in MSV, we found no association between recombination and mutation rates. Importantly, when comparing the mutation spectra of MSV and TYLCV we observed similar strand specific mutation biases arising predominantly from imbalances in the complementary mutations G???T: C???A.While our results suggest that recombination does not strongly influence mutation rates in MSV, they indicate that high geminivirus mutation rates are at least partially attributable to increased susceptibility of all geminivirus genomes to oxidative damage while in a single stranded state.

Dataset Information

Genetic insights into Graminella nigrifrons Competence for maize fine streak virus infection and transmission.

Publications

Genetic insights into Graminella nigrifrons Competence for maize fine streak virus infection and transmission.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets