Ser/Thr kinase-like protein of Nicotiana benthamiana is involved in the cell-to-cell movement of Bamboo mosaic virus
To investigate the plant genes affected by Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) infection, we applied a cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism technique to screen genes with differential expression. A serine/threonine kinase-like (NbSTKL) gene of Nicotiana benthamiana is upregulated after BaMV infection....
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Published in | PloS one Vol. 8; no. 4; p. e62907 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
United States
Public Library of Science
30.04.2013
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | To investigate the plant genes affected by Bamboo mosaic virus (BaMV) infection, we applied a cDNA-amplified fragment length polymorphism technique to screen genes with differential expression. A serine/threonine kinase-like (NbSTKL) gene of Nicotiana benthamiana is upregulated after BaMV infection. NbSTKL contains the homologous domain of Ser/Thr kinase. Knocking down the expression of NbSTKL by virus-induced gene silencing reduced the accumulation of BaMV in the inoculated leaves but not in the protoplasts. The spread of GFP-expressing BaMV in the inoculated leaves is also impeded by a reduced expression of NbSTKL. These data imply that NbSTKL facilitates the cell-to-cell movement of BaMV. The subcellular localization of NbSTKL is mainly on the cell membrane, which has been confirmed by mutagenesis and fractionation experiments. Combined with the results showing that active site mutation of NbSTKL does not change its subcellular localization but significantly affects BaMV accumulation, we conclude that NbSTKL may regulate BaMV movement on the cell membrane by its kinase-like activity. Moreover, the transient expression of NbSTKL does not significantly affect the accumulation of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) and Potato virus X (PVX); thus, NbSTKL might be a specific protein facilitating BaMV movement. |
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Bibliography: | Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Participated in discussion: NSL YHH. Conceived and designed the experiments: CPC CHT SFC. Performed the experiments: SFC MST CLH YPH IHC. Analyzed the data: SFC. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: NSL YHH. Wrote the paper: CPC CHT. |
ISSN: | 1932-6203 1932-6203 |
DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0062907 |