Regulatory Viral and Cellular Elements Required for Potato Virus X Replication

Potato virus X (PVX) is a flexuous rod-shaped virus containing a single plus-strand RNA. Viral RNA synthesis is precisely regulated by regulatory viral sequences and by viral and/or host proteins. RNA sequence element as well as stable RNA stem-loop structure in the 5' end of the genome affect accumulation of genomic RNA and subgenomic RNA (sgRNA). The putative sgRNA promoter regions upstream of the PVX triple gene block (TB) and coat protein (CP) gene were critical for both TB and CP sgRNA accumulation. Mutations that disrupted complementarity between a region at the 5' end of the genomic RNA and the sequences located upstream of each sgRNA initiation site is important for PVX RNA accumulation. Compensatory mutations that restore complementarity restored sgRNA accumulation levels. However, the extent of reductions in RNA levels did not directly correlate with the degree of complementarity, suggesting that the sequences of these elements are also important. Gel-retardation assays showed that the 5' end of the positive-strand RNA formed an RNA-protein complex with cellular proteins, suggesting possible involvement of cellular proteins for PVX replication. Future studies on cellular protein binding to the PVX RNA and their role in virus replication will bring a fresh understanding of PVX RNA replication.