Mutational Analysis of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Movement Protein Gene

The movement protein of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) is required for cell-to-cell movement of viral RNA. The movement of viral RNA occurs through the plant intercellular connection, the plasmodesmata. The viral movement protein was known to be multi-functional. In this work, a series of deletion mutants of CMV movement protein gene were created to identify the functional domains. The mutated movement proteins were produced as inclusion body in E. coli, and purified and renatured. A polyclonal antibody was raised against the CMV-Kor strain (Korean isolate) movement protein expressed in E. coli. The ability of the truncated proteins to bind to ssRNA was assayed by UV cross-linking and gel retardation analyses. The results indicate that the domain between amino acids 118 and 160 of CMV movement protein is essential for ssRNA binding.