• Plant Biotechnology Reports
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.75-85
• /
• 2008

Prune dwarf virus (PDV) is an Ilarvirus systemically infecting almond trees and other Prunus species and spreading through pollen, among other means. We have studied strategies based on coat protein (cp) gene to block PDV replication in host plant cells. A Portuguese isolate of PDV was obtained from infected almond leaves and used to produce the cDNA of the cp gene. Various constructs were prepared based on this sequence, aiming for the transgenic expression of the original or modified PDV coat protein (cpPDVSense and cpPDVMutated) or for the expression of cpPDV RNA (cpPDVAntisense and cpPDVwithout start codon). All constructs were tested in a PDV host model, Nicotiana benthamiana, and extensive molecular characterization and controlled infections were performed on transformants and their progenies. Transgenic plants expressing the coat protein RNA were able to block the proliferation of a PDV isolate sharing only 91% homology with the isolate used for cpPDV cloning, as evaluated by DAS-ELISA on newly developed leaves. With cp expression, the blockage of PDV proliferation in newly developed leaves was only achieved with the construct cpPDV Mutated, where the coat protein has a substitution in the 14th aa residue, with arginine replaced by alanine. This result points to a possible role of the mutated amino acid in the virus ability to replicate and proliferate. This work reveals the possibility of achieving protection against PDV through either coat protein RNA or mutated cp sequence.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.26 no.1
• /
• pp.25-31
• /
• 2010

Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) causes the most widespread and devastating disease in papaya. Isolates of PRSV originating from different geographical regions in south India were collected and maintained on natural host papaya. The entire coat protein (CP) gene of Papaya ringspot virus-P biotype (PRSV-P) was amplified by RTPCR. The amplicon was inserted into pGEM-T vector, sequenced and sub cloned into a bacterial expression vector pRSET-A using a directional cloning strategy. The PRSV coat protein was over-expressed as a fusion protein in Escherichia coli. SDS-PAGE gel revealed that CP expressed as a ~40 kDa protein. The recombinant coat protein (rCP) fused with 6x His-tag was purified from E.coli using Ni-NTA resin. The antigenicity of the fusion protein was determined by western blot analysis using antibodies raised against purified PRSV. The purified rCP was used as an antigen to produce high titer PRSV specific polyclonal antiserum. The resulting antiserum was used to develop an immunocapture reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (IC-RT-PCR) assay and compared its sensitivity levels with ELISA based assays for detection of PRSV isolates. IC-RT-PCR was shown to be the most sensitive test followed by dot-blot immunobinding assay (DBIA) and plate trapped ELISA.

• Korean Journal of Plant Tissue Culture
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.153-160
• /
• 1997

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) leads to a cause of poor crop productivity and quality. To solve this problem, we attempted to develop a virus-resistance tobacco plants by using viral coat protein (CP) gene. Transgenic tobacco plants expressing CMV CP gene were analysed by the resistance upon CMV infection. The virus-resistance was measured in $\textrm{T}_{1}$, generation by the inhibition of plant growth and the expression of the mosaic symptoms infected with CMV. The transgenic lines were divided into four groups: highly resistant, resistant, moderate and susceptible based on their growth and symptom severity. Out of 39 transgenic lines, 16 lines showed significant virus-resistance. And of resistant lines, 2 lines were designated highly resistant based on the facts that they achieved similar plant height to that of non-infected tobacco plants and showed lower disease symptom than that of other lines. The steady state level of CP RNA and coat protein level were measured by northern blot and immunoblot analysis. The CP RNA was highly accumulated in most resistant and moderate lines but barely detected in susceptible lines. The coat protein was detected in most lines regardless of their resistance to CMV. from this result, virus-resistance appeared to correlate more with CP RNA level than the level of coat protein. However, in two highly resistant lines, CP RNA level was unexpectedly low. This unexpected phenomenon need to be further investigated.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.39 no.1
• /
• pp.16-21
• /
• 2006

The coat protein (CP) of Papaya ringspot virus (PRSV) was analyzed for presentation of the antigenic peptide of animal virus, Canine parvovirus (CPV), in Escherichia coli (E. coli). The 45 nucleotides fragment coding for the 15-aa peptide epitope of the CPV-VP2 protein was either inserted into the PRSV-cp gene at the 5', 3' ends, both 5' and 3' ends or substituted into the 3' end of the PRSV cp gene. Each of the chimeric PRSV cp genes was cloned into the pRSET B vector under the control of the T7 promoter and transformed into E. coli. The recombinant coat proteins expressed from different chimeric PRSV-cp genes were purified and intraperitoneally injected into mice. All of the recombinant coat proteins showed strong immunogenicity and stimulate mice immune response. The recombinant coat proteins containing the CPV epitope insertion at the C terminus and at both N and C termini elicited ten times higher specific antisera in immunized mice compared with the other two recombinant coat proteins which contain the CPV epitope insertion at the N terminus and substitution at the C terminus.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
• /
• v.11 no.4
• /
• pp.374-379
• /
• 1995

The cDNA of tobacco mosaic virus-pepper strain (TMV-P) coat protein (CP) genes were introduced into tobacco plants (Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun nn) using a binary Ti plasmid vector of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. these cDNAs introduced into tobacco plants were detected by polymerase chain reaction. Symptom development was distinctly suppressed in the transgenic plant introduced buy sense CP cDNA when the plant was inoculated with TMV-P, while in transgenic tobacco plants of antisense CP gene, symptom development was not suppressed as in non-transgenic plants. TMV-P concentration in the sense CP transgenic tobacco plant was decreased to 1/14 of the concentration in non-transgenic plants. Expression of the kanamycin resistance gene of these transgenic plants could be detected in the progeny.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Tobacco Science
• /
• v.18 no.2
• /
• pp.101-106
• /
• 1996

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) tomato strain was isolated from tomato "Seo-Kwang" in Korea. The virion was purified by density gradient centrifugation, and total viral RNA was isolated from the purified particles. Coat protein (CP) cDNA of the virus was synthesized by RT-PCR, and the purified cDNA fragment was subcloned to pBluescript II SK-. The analysis of nucleotide sequence showed that this cDNA was 693 nucleotides long from the insert of clone p1571 and p1572 which contain complete codons of the viral coat protein gene (474 nucleotides) and 3' untranslated region. The nucleotides of coat protein encoding cDNA of the strain were 6 nucleotides less than that of TMV common strain isolated from tobacco plant in Korea. The CP gene showed 70% maximum homology with that of the common strain in the nucleotide level and 86% maximum homology in amino acid level.cid level.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.127-130
• /
• 2004

Grapevine leaf roll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3) is one of the most important viral diseases of grapevine in the world. In this study, GLRaV-3 Ampelovirus was identi-fied from grapevines in Korea by analyzing viral coat protein size, nucleotide, and amino acid sequences. The molecular weight of viral coat protein from virus-infected in vitro plantlets was determined by western blot using a commercial GLRaV-3 polyclonal antibody. Western blot analysis showed a coat protein of about 43 kDa. RT-PCR product of about 942 bp which encoded the coat protein (CP) gene was amplified with specific primers. When the viruses existed at low titers in the host plant, the dsRNA had very specific template in RT- PCR amplification of fruit tree viruses. Especially, small-scale dsRNA extraction method was very reliable and rapid. Sequence analysis revealed that the CP of the GLRaV-3 Ko consisted of 942 bp nucleotide, which encoded 314 amino acid residues. The CP gene of GLRaV-3 Ko had 98.9% nucleotide sequence and 98.7% amino acid sequence identities with earlier reported GLRaV-3. This is the first report on molecular assay of GLRaV-3 Ampelovirus identified from Korea. The GLRaV-3 Ko CP clone would be very useful for breeding of virus resistant grapevines.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.46 no.10
• /
• pp.495-500
• /
• 2013

Turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) is a positive strand RNA virus. We have modified TYMV coat protein (CP) by inserting a c-Myc epitope peptide at the N- or C-terminus of the CP, and have examined its effect on assembly. We introduced the recombinant CP constructs into Nicotiana benthamiana leaves by agroinfiltration. Examination of the leaf extracts by agarose gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis showed that the CP modified at the N-terminus produced a band co-migrating with wild-type virions. With C-terminal modification, however, the detected bands moved faster than the wild-type virions. To further examine the effect, TYMV constructs producing the modified CPs were prepared. With N-terminal modification, viral RNAs were protected from RNase A. In contrast, the viral RNAs were not protected with C-terminal modification. Overall, the results suggest that virion assembly and RNA packaging occur properly when the N-terminus of CP is modified, but not when the C-terminus is modified.

• The Plant Pathology Journal
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.118-124
• /
• 2000

The coat protein (CP) gene of kyuri green mottle mosaic virus zucchini strain (KGMMV-Z) isolated from zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) in Chonfu, Korea in 1999 was sequenced by the reverse transcription and polymerase chain reaction with degenerate and generate primers originated from tobamoviruses. The degenerate primers were very effective in amplification of KGMMV-Z CP region. The KGMMV-Z CP gene consisted of 486 nucleotides and had the same nucleotide length compared with those of cucurbit-infecting tobamoviruses. KGMMV-Z CP gene shared 43.8, 44.2, and 44.4% nucleotide sequence similarity with the CP gene of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus watermelon strain (CGMMZ-W), CGMMV-KW1, and CGMMV-SH, respectively, whereas three CGMMV strains among themselves showed 98.6-99.6% nucleotide similarity. The deduced amino acids of KGMMV-Z CP gene were 161 amino acid residues with the molecular weight of 17,181 daltons. The first 24 codons of KGMMV-Z CP gene corresponded to the sequences of the N-terminal amino acid of the viral capsid protein. The amino acid sequences of KGMMV-Z CP had 45.3% similarity compared with those of three CGMMV strains. However, the amino acid sequences of CGMMV strains were identical. These results showed that two cucurbit-infecting tobamovirus members, KGMMV-Z and CGMMV were genetically distantly related.

• Korean Journal Plant Pathology
• /
• v.11 no.1
• /
• pp.66-72
• /
• 1995

The coat protein (CP) gene of cucumber mosaic virus-As (CMV-As) strain was engineered for expression in the plant by using the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S transcript regulatory sequences. The CP gene was cloned into an Agrobacterium-derived binary vector. A chimeric gene was constructed by the cDNA of CMV-As CP and plant expression vector pBI121. The clone, pCMAS66, was first introduced into the phagemid vector pSPORT1 for situating sense orientation for translation and making restriction sites in order to re-introduce plant expression vector, pHI121. The resulting subclone pCASCP02 and plant expression vector pBI121 were treated with BamHI-SacI for excising the target gene and removing GUS gene, respectively. After Agrobacterium transformation by freeze-thaw technique, the clone, pCMASCP121-123 which contains sense orientation of the target gene, was selected and confirmed by restriction endonuclease analysis. The CMV-As CP gene was introduced into A. tumefaciens. The results on tobacco plant transformation with the vector system revealed that the system could be successfully introduced and showed high frequency of selection to putative transformations.