A conserved motif in three viral movement proteins from different genera is required for host factor recruitment and cell-to-cell movement

Abstract

Due to their minimal genomes, plant viruses are forced to hijack specific cellular pathways to ensure host colonization, a condition that most frequently involves physical interaction between viral and host proteins. Among putative viral interactors are the movement proteins, responsible for plasmodesma gating and genome binding during viral transport. Two of them, DGBp1 and DGBp2, are required for alpha-, beta- and gammacarmovirus cell-to-cell movement, but the number of DGBp-host interactors identified at present is limited. By using two different approaches, yeast two-hybrid and bimolecular fluorescence complementation assays, we found three Arabidopsis factors, eIF3g1, RPP3A and WRKY36, interacting with DGBp1s from each genus mentioned above. eIF3g1 and RPP3A are mainly involved in protein translation initiation and elongation phases, respectively, while WRKY36 belongs to WRKY transcription factor family, important regulators of many defence responses. These host proteins are not expected to be associated with viral movement, but knocking out WRKY36 or silencing either RPP3A or eIF3g1 negatively affected Arabidopsis infection by Turnip crinkle virus. A highly conserved FNF motif at DGBp1 C-terminus was required for protein-protein interaction and cell-to-cell movement, suggesting an important biological role.