AbstractsBiology & Animal Science

The spraing symptoms on potato tubers caused by Potato mop-top virus (PMTV) are considered as one of the most important quality problems in potato production in the Nordic countries. PMTV has a tripartite single stranded positive sense RNA genome. RNA-RdRp encodes the viral replicase. PMTV-CP codes for a coat protein (CP) and a read through part of CP associated with the vector transmission. RNA-TGB encodes three movement related triple gene block proteins (TGBp) and an 8 kDa cysteine rich protein (8K) implicated as suppressor of RNA silencing. The aim of this study was to find new host and viral factors affecting PMTV infection and detection. As only few PMTV sequences were available in databanks prior to this study, 28 PMTV isolates obtained from symptomatic and asymptomatic potato tubers were partially sequenced. Two distinguishable types of RNA-CP and RNA-TGB were found, each showing only little genetic variability. Occurrence of tuber symptoms did not correlate with the types of PMTV RNA but seemed to depend on potato cultivar and environmental conditions. Indeed, in some cultivars almost all PMTV infections were asymptomatic. Potato sprouts grown in dark were found to contain high titers of PMTV and can be used to test potatoes for PMTV. However, viral titers decreased rapidly in sprouts exposed to light. Accumulation of PMTV specific small interfering RNAs (siRNA) in both dark grown and light exposed sprouts indicated that RNA silencing was acting against the virus in the sprouts. Moreover, the amount of viral siRNA, as opposed to viral RNA, did not decrease in the light-exposed sprouts indicating that RNA silencing was enhanced in the light exposed sprouts. PMTV TGBp1 was found, and PMTV 8K confirmed, to act as weak suppressor of silencing. PMTV TGBp3 interacts with TGBp2 to target viral ribonucleoprotein complexes to plasmodesmata and further to adjacent cells, but TGBp2 and TGBp3 are recycled through endocytosis. PMTV TGBp3 was found to be phosphorylated on two tyrosine residues, both of which are located within tyrosine based sorting motifs implicated in endocytosis. Mutation of one of the sites led to strengthening of the TGBp2-TGBp3 interaction and restricted the virus to the originally infected cell. Therefore, tyrosine phosphorylation of TGBp3 seemed to affect PMTV infection by regulating the interaction between TGBp2 and TGBp3. According to this study, the current reliance on symptoms in seed potato inspections for PMTV is unreliable and risks spreading the virus to new fields. Light was found to accelerate antiviral silencing in sprouts, which may explain why PMTV and its symptoms are rarely detected in aboveground parts of potato plants. Tyrosine phosphorylation of TGBp3 marked the first evidence that viral proteins can be tyrosine-phosphorylated in plants. This find could offer means for breeding PMTV resistant potato cultivars.   Perunan maltokaarivirus aiheuttaa kuoliokaaria perunanmukulan maltoon heikentäen sadon kelpoisuutta perunalastujen tai ranskalaisten perunoiden raaka-aineeksi…