Role of the C4 protein PepYLCV in viral symptom determinant: In silico approach

Abstract

The C4 protein of the monopartite begomovirus pepper yellow leaf curl virus [PepYLCV] plays a major role in the pathogenicity of plant virus infection. Complement gene [C4], in virus, is overlapped with complement gene 1 [C1] or known as Replicase gene [Rep]. The C1 protein is directly involved in virus DNA replication, but not the C4 protein. Recent studies suggested that the C4 is a viral symptom determinant but the molecular mechanism has not been elucidated. In this study, the C4 gene of the novel PepYLCV Alahan Panjang was isolated. To further investigate the role of C4 in symptom determinants, in silico approached was used. Computational modeling of C4 was constructed with homology and ab initio modeling software and the model was checked with Ramachandran Plot. The optimum model of the C4 was used in the surface analysis to predict binding sites and key residues. The mutant structure of the C4 protein and its prospect for CRISPR-Cas9 utilization are discussed.