Communication and molecular transport between cells often occur through intercellular connections, termed gap Cell-to-cell translocation of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), one of the best studied plant viruses, is mediated by its movement protein (MP), proposed to form complexes with the genomic TMV RNA and target them to and through plant intercellular connections, the plasmodesmata. Thus, these complexes represent a pool of viral RNA molecules destined for cell-to-cell transport and excluded from translation and replication. Potentially, association of MP with TMV RNA may explain such functional inhibition. Recently, the Moscow collaborator has found that MP-TMV RNA are translationally repressed in vitro and in isolated plant protoplasts which lack plasmodesmata. However, these complexes became infectious in plant tissues, suggesting their conversion into a translatable form following passage through plasmodesmal channels. What is the molecular mechanism by which MP-RNA complexes become competent for translation and replication? TMV MP is phosphorylated both in vivo and in vitro. Potentially, MP phosphorylation may function as a regulatory switch between viral cell-to-cell movement and replication and translation. Recent observations by the Moscow group that phosphorylation of MP rendered MP-RNA complexes translatable in vitro and infectious to isolated protoplasts support this idea. The proposed research will study the role of MP phosphorylation in regulation of TMV movement and infection by seeking three specific objectives: I. To characterize the structure of in vitro-formed MP-TMV RNA complexes and elucidate its changes following MP phosphorylation. TMV RNA complexes with unphosphorylated or phosphorylated MP will be analyzed using atomic force microscopy and RNA footprinting to assess how MP phosphorylation affects RNA region(s) protected by MP binding. MP phosphorylation will be achieved either by protein kinase treatments or using negatively charged substitution mutations in the MP phosphorylation site. II. To isolate MP-TMV RNA complexes formed in vivo during viral infection and characterize their structure and degree of phosphorylation. MP-TMV RNA complexes will be isolated from TMV-infected plants by density gradient centrifugation and examined by Western blot analysis, atomic force microscopy, and RNA footprinting. The specific phosphorylated amino acid residues contained in these complexes will be determined by phosphoamino acid analysis and peptide mapping. III. To study how phosphorylation affects biological activity of MP-TMV RNA complexes. Biological activity of MP-TMV RNA complexes formed both in vitro and in vivo will be assessed from their ability to gate plasmodesmata following microinjection into tobacco leaf mesophyll and undergo replication and translation in vitro, in isolated protoplasts, and in plant tissues.
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