Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is a plus-stranded RNA virus that belongs to the genus Luteovirus of the Luteoviridae family. It is a very widespread pathogen of wheat, barley and oats. Plant viruses, whose genomes are usually smaller than animal viruses, are easier to culture and use in a variety of in vitro and in vivo studies, giving plant viruses the advantage over animal viruses for studying replication, transcription, and translation control events. BYDV utilizes an assortment of strategies to express its genes and serves as a unique model to study novel transcriptional and translational control events. Like many (+) sense RNA viruses, BYDV deploys subgenomic (sg) RNAs to express its 3'-proximal genes. This strategy allows downstream ORFs to be positioned at the 5' end of the subgenomic mRNA, making them available to ribosomes for protein synthesis. Since transcription, replication and translation are all connected during the actual infection of the host, the long term goal is to develop a model that will explain the role of sgRNA synthesis in translation control. Understanding the mechanisms of how subgenomic RNAs are synthesized is relevant to many human pathogens such as alphaviruses and coronaviruses. The proposed research project centers on determining the molecular mechanisms involved in the synthesis of subgenomic RNAs in BYDV, particularly the synthesis of subgenomic RNAs 2 and 3.
The specific aims of this proposal are to investigate the regulation and mechanism(s) of subgenomic RNA synthesis by (1) determining the essential primary and secondary structures required for synthesis of subgenomic RNAs 2 and 3 (2) investigating possible trans-replication of sgRNAs 2 and 3 (3) determining the roles of sgRNA2 and sgRNA3, including mutants, in virus infection of whole plants.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Predoctoral Individual National Research Service Award (F31)
Project #
5F31AI056673-03
Application #
6898003
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-MBC-1 (29))
Program Officer
Hernandez, Milton J
Project Start
2003-06-24
Project End
2006-06-23
Budget Start
2005-06-24
Budget End
2006-06-23
Support Year
3
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$29,751
Indirect Cost
Name
Iowa State University
Department
Other Basic Sciences
Type
Schools of Earth Sciences/Natur
DUNS #
005309844
City
Ames
State
IA
Country
United States
Zip Code
50011
Miller, W Allen; Jackson, Jacquelyn; Feng, Ying (2015) Cis- and trans-regulation of luteovirus gene expression by the 3' end of the viral genome. Virus Res 206:37-45