A Sequence in Coat Protein Open Reading Frame Is Required for Turnip Yellow Mosaic Virus Replication

Abstract

Turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) is a spherical plant virus that has a single 6.3 kb positive strand RNA genome. Information for TYMV replication is limited, except that the 3’-terminal sequence and 5’-untranslated region are required for genome replication. When a foreign sequence was inserted at the position upstream of the coat protein (CP) open reading frame (ORF), replication of the recombinant TYMV was comparable to wild type, as long as an RNAi suppressor was provided. In contrast, when the foreign sequence was inserted between the CP ORF and the 3’-terminal tRNA-like structure, replication of the recombinant virus was not detected. This result suggests that the CP ORF contains an essential replication element which should be appropriately spaced with respect to the 3’-end. Analysis of TYMV constructs containing a part or a full additional CP ORF indicates that the 3’ quarter of the CP ORF is required for TYMV replication.