Abstract
Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a single-stranded (ssDNA) begomoviruses that causes severe damage to tomato and several other crops worldwide. TYLCV is exclusively transmitted by the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci in a persistent circulative and propagative manner. Previous studies have shown that the transmission, retention, and circulation of TYLCV in its vector involves interaction with insect and endosymbiont proteins, which aid in the transmission of the virus, or have a protective role in response to the presence of the virus in the insect body. However, only a low number of such proteins have been identified. Here, the role of B. tabaci Cyclophilin B (CypB) in the transmission of TYLCV protein was investigated. Cyclophilins are a large family of cellular prolyl isomerases that have many molecular roles including facilitating protein-protein interactions in the cell. One cyclophilin protein has been implicated in aphid-luteovirus interactions. We demonstrate that the expression of CypB from B. tabaci is altered upon TYLCV acquisition and retention. Further experiments used immunocapture-PCR and co-immunolocalization and demonstrated a specific interaction and colocalization between CypB and TYLCV in the the midgut, eggs, and salivary glands. Membrane feeding of anti-CypB antibodies and TYLCV-infected plants showed a decrease in TYLCV transmission, suggesting a critical role that CypB plays in TYLCV transmission. Further experiments, which used membrane feeding with the CypB inhibitor Cyclosporin A showed decrease in CypB-TYLCV colocalization in the midgut and virus transmission. Altogether, our results indicate that CypB plays an important role in TYLCV transmission by B. tabaci.
Highlights
Begomoviruses are a group of icosahedral single-stranded DNA viruses exclusively transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent, circulative manner
These results indicate that the role of Cyp proteins might involve multitrophic interactions between insect proteins, endosymbionts, and the virus coat protein (CP), especially that when the expression of the three Cyp genes was measured in R+ and R− insects, without Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) acquisition, their expression was always significantly higher in the R+ insects (Figures 3A–C)
We demonstrated in the present study an important role of B. tabaci B Cyclophilin B (CypB) protein in TYLCV circulative transmission
Summary
Begomoviruses are a group of icosahedral single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) viruses exclusively transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in a persistent, circulative manner. Among the whitefly-transmitted viruses, 90% belong to the genera Begomovirus (Jones, 2003), which includes approximately 288 species, and have emerged as the most threatening group of plant viruses globally during the past two decades, as reported from dicotyledonous host-causing diseases of economic importance (Brown and Czosnek, 2002). TYLCV is exclusively transmitted by B. tabaci, and many parameters for the virus acquisition, transmission, and retention have been extensively documented (Rubinstein and Czosnek, 1997; Brown and Czosnek, 2002). The 29-kDa virus coat protein (CP) is exclusively required for transmission and interaction with B. tabaci tissues and proteins (Briddon et al, 1990; Noris et al, 1998). TYLCV virions are acquired with the phloem sap, move along the food canal and foregut to reach the midgut, translocate across the gut epithelia into the hemolymph, enter the primary salivary glands via endocytosis, from which they are expelled into the host plant with salivary secretions (Ghanim, 2014; Gray et al, 2014)
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
