Complete genome sequence and intracellular protein localization of Datura yellow vein nucleorhabdovirus

DIETZGEN RALF; INNES, DAVID; BEJERMAN, NICOLÁS

VIRUS RESEARCH

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2015

0168-1702

A limited number of plant rhabdovirus genomes have been fully sequenced, making taxonomic classifi-cation, evolutionary analysis and molecular characterization of this virus group difficult. We have for thefirst time determined the complete genome sequence of 13,188 nucleotides of Datura yellow vein nucle-orhabdovirus (DYVV). DYVV genome organization resembles that of its closest relative, Sonchus yellownet virus (SYNV), with six ORFs in antigenomic orientation, separated by highly conserved intergenicregions and flanked by complementary 3leader and 5trailer sequences. As is typical for nucleorhab-doviruses, all viral proteins, except the glycoprotein, which is targeted to the endoplasmic reticulum, arelocalized to the nucleus. Nucleocapsid (N) protein, matrix (M) protein and polymerase, as components ofnuclear viroplasms during replication, have predicted strong canonical nuclear localization signals, andN and M proteins exclusively localize to the nucleus when transiently expressed as GFP fusions. As in allnucleorhabdoviruses studied so far, N and phosphoprotein P interact when co-expressed, significantlyincreasing P nuclear localization in the presence of N protein. This research adds to the list of completegenomes of plant-infecting rhabdoviruses, provides molecular tools for further characterization and sup-ports classification of DYVV as a nucleorhabdovirus closely related to but with some distinct differencesfrom SYNV.