Abstract
The genus Potexvirus is one of the eight genera belonging to the family Alphaflexiviridae according to the Virus Taxonomy 2015 released by International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (www.ictvonline.org/index.asp). Currently, the genus contains 35 known species including many agricultural important viruses, e.g., Potato virus X (PVX). Members of this genus are characterized by flexuous, filamentous virions of 13 nm in diameter and 470–580 nm in length. A potexvirus has a monopartite positive-strand RNA genome, encoding five open-reading frames (ORFs), with a cap structure at the 5′ end and a poly(A) tail at the 3′ end. Besides PVX, Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) is another potexvirus that has received intensive attention due to the wealth of knowledge on the molecular biology of the virus. In this review, we discuss the enzymatic activities associated with each of the functional domains of the BaMV replication protein, a 155-kDa polypeptide encoded by ORF1. The unique cap formation mechanism, which may be conserved across the alphavirus superfamily, is particularly addressed. The recently identified interactions between the replication protein and the plant host factors are also described.
Highlights
Reviewed by: John Hammond, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), USA Satyanarayana Tatineni, Agricultural Research Service (USDA), USA Carmen Simón, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC), Spain
Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) primarily infects members of the Bambusoideae in nature; it replicates in Nicotiana benthamiana, which thereby has been used as the surrogate in laboratories
The first open-reading frames (ORFs) encodes a 155-kDa non-structural protein (REPBaMV) that has been thought to be essential for replication/transcription of the viral genome and the formation of the 5 cap based on the presence of signature motifs of Sindbis virus-like methyltransferase (Rozanov et al, 1992), helicase (Habili and Symons, 1989), and RNA polymerase (Koonin and Dolja, 1993)
Summary
Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) primarily infects members of the Bambusoideae in nature; it replicates in Nicotiana benthamiana, which thereby has been used as the surrogate in laboratories. The RNA genome of BaMV contains 6366 nucleotides (nts) plus a 5 m7GpppG (cap0) structure and a 3 poly(A) tail (Figure 1A). It is functionally organized into a 94-nt 5 untranslated region (UTR), five ORFs, and a 142-nt 3 UTR (Lin et al, 1994). The first ORF encodes a 155-kDa non-structural protein (REPBaMV) that has been thought to be essential for replication/transcription of the viral genome and the formation of the 5 cap based on the presence of signature motifs of Sindbis virus-like methyltransferase (Rozanov et al, 1992), helicase (Habili and Symons, 1989), and RNA polymerase (Koonin and Dolja, 1993). In-depth discussions about the functions of each of the TGB proteins of PVX in
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
