A WW Domain-Containing Protein Forms Immune Nuclear Bodies against Begomoviruses.

The bipartite begomoviruses (Geminiviridae family), which are DNA viruses that replicate in the nucleus of infected cells, encode the nuclear shuttle protein (NSP) to facilitate the translocation of viral DNA from the nucleus to the cytoplasm via nuclear pores. This intracellular trafficking of NSP-DNA complexes is accessorized by the NSP-interacting guanosine triphosphatase (NIG) at the cytosolic side. Here, we report the nuclear redistribution of NIG by AtWWP1, a WW domain-containing protein that forms immune nuclear bodies (NBs) against begomoviruses. We demonstrated that AtWWP1 relocates NIG from the cytoplasm to the nucleus where it is confined to AtWWP1-NBs, suggesting that the NIG-AtWWP1 interaction may interfere with the NIG pro-viral function associated with its cytosolic localization. Consistent with this assumption, loss of AtWWP1 function cuased plants more susceptible to begomovirus infection, whereas overexpression of AtWWP1 enhanced plant resistance to begomovirus. Furthermore, we found that a mutant version of AtWWP1 defective for NB formation was no longer capable of interacting with and relocating NIG to the nucleus and lost its immune function against begomovirus. The antiviral function of AtWWP1-NBs, however, could be antagonized by viral infection that induced either the disruption or a decrease in the number of AtWWP1-NBs. Collectively, these results led us to propose that AtWWP1 organizes nuclear structures into nuclear foci, which provide intrinsic immunity against begomovirus infection.

Translational control in plant antiviral immunity.

Due to the limited coding capacity of viral genomes, plant viruses depend extensively on the host cell machinery to support the viral life cycle and, thereby, interact with a large number of host proteins during infection. Within this context, as plant viruses do not harbor translation-required components, they have developed several strategies to subvert the host protein synthesis machinery to produce rapidly and efficiently the viral proteins. As a countermeasure against infection, plants have evolved defense mechanisms that impair viral infections. Among them, the host-mediated translational suppression has been characterized as an efficient mean to restrict infection. To specifically suppress translation of viral mRNAs, plants can deploy susceptible recessive resistance genes, which encode translation initiation factors from the eIF4E and eIF4G family and are required for viral mRNA translation and multiplication. Additionally, recent evidence has demonstrated that, alternatively to the cleavage of viral RNA targets, host cells can suppress viral protein translation to silence viral RNA. Finally, a novel strategy of plant antiviral defense based on suppression of host global translation, which is mediated by the transmembrane immune receptor NIK1 (nuclear shuttle protein (NSP)-Interacting Kinase1), is discussed in this review.

Plant immunity against viruses: antiviral immune receptors in focus.

BACKGROUND: Among the environmental limitations that affect plant growth, viruses cause major crop losses worldwide and represent serious threats to food security. Significant advances in the field of plant-virus interactions have led to an expansion of potential strategies for genetically engineered resistance in crops during recent years. Nevertheless, the evolution of viral virulence represents a constant challenge in agriculture that has led to a continuing interest in the molecular mechanisms of plant-virus interactions that affect disease or resistance. SCOPE AND CONCLUSION: This review summarizes the molecular mechanisms of the antiviral immune system in plants and the latest breakthroughs reported in plant defence against viruses. Particular attention is given to the immune receptors and transduction pathways in antiviral innate immunity. Plants counteract viral infection with a sophisticated innate immune system that resembles the non-viral pathogenic system, which is broadly divided into pathogen-associated molecular pattern (PAMP)-triggered immunity and effector-triggered immunity. An additional recently uncovered virus-specific defence mechanism relies on host translation suppression mediated by a transmembrane immune receptor. In all cases, the recognition of the virus by the plant during infection is central for the activation of these innate defences, and, conversely, the detection of host plants enables the virus to activate virulence strategies. Plants also circumvent viral infection through RNA interference mechanisms by utilizing small RNAs, which are often suppressed by co-evolving virus suppressors. Additionally, plants defend themselves against viruses through hormone-mediated defences and activation of the ubiquitin-26S proteasome system (UPS), which alternatively impairs and facilitates viral infection. Therefore, plant defence and virulence strategies co-evolve and co-exist; hence, disease development is largely dependent on the extent and rate at which these opposing signals emerge in host and non-host interactions. A deeper understanding of plant antiviral immunity may facilitate innovative biotechnological, genetic and breeding approaches for crop protection and improvement.

Translational control in plant antiviral immunity

Abstract Due to the limited coding capacity of viral genomes, plant viruses depend extensively on the host cell machinery to support the viral life cycle and, thereby, interact with a large number of host proteins during infection. Within this context, as plant viruses do not harbor translation-required components, they have developed several strategies to subvert the host protein synthesis machinery to produce rapidly and efficiently the viral proteins. As a countermeasure against infection, plants have evolved defense mechanisms that impair viral infections. Among them, the host-mediated translational suppression has been characterized as an efficient mean to restrict infection. To specifically suppress translation of viral mRNAs, plants can deploy susceptible recessive resistance genes, which encode translation initiation factors from the eIF4E and eIF4G family and are required for viral mRNA translation and multiplication. Additionally, recent evidence has demonstrated that, alternatively to the cleavage of viral RNA targets, host cells can suppress viral protein translation to silence viral RNA. Finally, a novel strategy of plant antiviral defense based on suppression of host global translation, which is mediated by the transmembrane immune receptor NIK1 (nuclear shuttle protein (NSP)-Interacting Kinase1), is discussed in this review.

Immune Receptors and Co-receptors in Antiviral Innate Immunity in Plants.

Plants respond to pathogens using an innate immune system that is broadly divided into PTI (pathogen-associated molecular pattern- or PAMP-triggered immunity) and ETI (effector-triggered immunity). PTI is activated upon perception of PAMPs, conserved motifs derived from pathogens, by surface membrane-anchored pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). To overcome this first line of defense, pathogens release into plant cells effectors that inhibit PTI and activate effector-triggered susceptibility (ETS). Counteracting this virulence strategy, plant cells synthesize intracellular resistance (R) proteins, which specifically recognize pathogen effectors or avirulence (Avr) factors and activate ETI. These coevolving pathogen virulence strategies and plant resistance mechanisms illustrate evolutionary arms race between pathogen and host, which is integrated into the zigzag model of plant innate immunity. Although antiviral immune concepts have been initially excluded from the zigzag model, recent studies have provided several lines of evidence substantiating the notion that plants deploy the innate immune system to fight viruses in a manner similar to that used for non-viral pathogens. First, most R proteins against viruses so far characterized share structural similarity with antibacterial and antifungal R gene products and elicit typical ETI-based immune responses. Second, virus-derived PAMPs may activate PTI-like responses through immune co-receptors of plant PTI. Finally, and even more compelling, a viral Avr factor that triggers ETI in resistant genotypes has recently been shown to act as a suppressor of PTI, integrating plant viruses into the co-evolutionary model of host-pathogen interactions, the zigzag model. In this review, we summarize these important progresses, focusing on the potential significance of antiviral immune receptors and co-receptors in plant antiviral innate immunity. In light of the innate immune system, we also discuss a newly uncovered layer of antiviral defense that is specific to plant DNA viruses and relies on transmembrane receptor-mediated translational suppression for defense.

NIK1-mediated translation suppression functions as a plant antiviral immunity mechanism.

Plants and plant pathogens are subject to continuous co-evolutionary pressure for dominance, and the outcomes of these interactions can substantially impact agriculture and food security. In virus-plant interactions, one of the major mechanisms for plant antiviral immunity relies on RNA silencing, which is often suppressed by co-evolving virus suppressors, thus enhancing viral pathogenicity in susceptible hosts. In addition, plants use the nucleotide-binding and leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) domain-containing resistance proteins, which recognize viral effectors to activate effector-triggered immunity in a defence mechanism similar to that employed in non-viral infections. Unlike most eukaryotic organisms, plants are not known to activate mechanisms of host global translation suppression to fight viruses. Here we demonstrate in Arabidopsis that the constitutive activation of NIK1, a leucine-rich repeat receptor-like kinase (LRR-RLK) identified as a virulence target of the begomovirus nuclear shuttle protein (NSP), leads to global translation suppression and translocation of the downstream component RPL10 to the nucleus, where it interacts with a newly identified MYB-like protein, L10-INTERACTING MYB DOMAIN-CONTAINING PROTEIN (LIMYB), to downregulate translational machinery genes fully. LIMYB overexpression represses ribosomal protein genes at the transcriptional level, resulting in protein synthesis inhibition, decreased viral messenger RNA association with polysome fractions and enhanced tolerance to begomovirus. By contrast, the loss of LIMYB function releases the repression of translation-related genes and increases susceptibility to virus infection. Therefore, LIMYB links immune receptor LRR-RLK activation to global translation suppression as an antiviral immunity strategy in plants.

GmNAC30 and GmNAC81 integrate the endoplasmic reticulum stress- and osmotic stress-induced cell death responses through a vacuolar processing enzyme.

Prolonged endoplasmic reticulum and osmotic stress synergistically activate the stress-induced N-rich protein-mediated signaling that transduces a cell death signal by inducing GmNAC81 (GmNAC6) in soybean. To identify novel regulators of the stress-induced programmed cell death (PCD) response, we screened a two-hybrid library for partners of GmNAC81. We discovered another member of the NAC (NAM-ATAF1,2-CUC2) family, GmNAC30, which binds to GmNAC81 in the nucleus of plant cells to coordinately regulate common target promoters that harbor the core cis-regulatory element TGTG[TGC]. We found that GmNAC81 and GmNAC30 can function either as transcriptional repressors or activators and cooperate to enhance the transcriptional regulation of common target promoters, suggesting that heterodimerization may be required for the full regulation of gene expression. Accordingly, GmNAC81 and GmNAC30 display overlapping expression profiles in response to multiple environmental and developmental stimuli. Consistent with a role in PCD, GmNAC81 and GmNAC30 bind in vivo to and transactivate hydrolytic enzyme promoters in soybean protoplasts. A GmNAC81/GmNAC30 binding site is located in the promoter of the caspase-1-like vacuolar processing enzyme (VPE) gene, which is involved in PCD in plants. We demonstrated that the expression of GmNAC81 and GmNAC30 fully transactivates the VPE gene in soybean protoplasts and that this transactivation was associated with an increase in caspase-1-like activity. Collectively, our results indicate that the stress-induced GmNAC30 cooperates with GmNAC81 to activate PCD through the induction of the cell death executioner VPE.

Soybean chlorotic spot virus, a novel begomovirus infecting soybean in Brazil.

A novel soybean-infecting begomovirus from Brazil was identified in Jaíba, in the state of Minas Gerais, and molecularly characterized. By using rolling-circle amplification-based cloning of viral DNAs, three DNA-A variants and a cognate DNA-B were isolated from infected samples. The DNA variants share more than 98 % sequence identity but have less than 89 % identity to other reported begomovirus, the limit for demarcation of new species. In a phylogenetic analysis, both DNA-A and DNA-B clustered with other Brazilian begomoviruses. Infectious cloned DNA-A and DNA-B components induced distinct symptoms in Solanaceae and Fabaceae species by biolistic inoculation. In soybean, the virus induced mild symptoms, i.e., chlorotic spots on the leaves, from which the name soybean chlorotic spot virus (SoCSV) was proposed. The most severe symptoms were displayed by common beans, which exhibited leaf distortion, blistering, interveinal chlorosis, mosaic and golden mosaic. The possibility that SoCSV may become a threat to bean production in Brazil is discussed.