Yanhong Qiu1, Yongjiang Zhang1, Chaonan Wang1,2, Rong Lei1, Yupin Wu1, Xinshi Li1 & Shuifang Zhu1

 

Received: 23 June 2017 Accepted: 28 December 2017 Published: 19 January 2018

Scientific Reports volume 8, Article number: 1205 (2018)

 

Abstract

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) infection could induce mosaic symptoms on a wide-range of host plants. However, there is still limited information regarding the molecular mechanism underlying the development of the symptoms. In this study, the coat protein (CP) was confrmed as the symptom determinant by exchanging the CP between a chlorosis inducing CMV-M strain and a green-mosaic inducing CMV-Q strain. A yeast two-hybrid analysis and bimolecular fuorescence complementation revealed that the chloroplast ferredoxin I (Fd I) protein interacted with the CP of CMV-M both in vitro and in vivo, but not with the CP of CMV-Q. The severity of chlorosis was directly related to the expression of Fd1, that was down-regulated in CMV-M but not in CMV-Q. Moreover, the silencing of Fd I induced chlorosis symptoms that were similar to those elicited by CMV-M. Subsequent analyses indicated that the CP of CMV-M interacted with the precursor of Fd I in the cytoplasm and disrupted the transport of Fd I into chloroplasts, leading to the suppression of Fd I functions during a viral infection. Collectively, our fndings accentuate that the interaction between the CP of CMV and Fd I is the primary determinant for the induction of chlorosis in tobacco.

 

生技碩二 穆靖茹

生技碩一 鄭依庭

指導教授 : 徐堯輝、王敏盈 教授