Article
- The EMBO Journal (2000) 19, 913 - 920
- doi:10.1093/emboj/19.5.913
Interaction between the tobacco mosaic virus movement protein and host cell pectin methylesterases is required for viral cell-to-cell movement
Min-Huei Chen1, Jinsong Sheng1, Geoffrey Hind2, Avtar K. Handa3 and Vitaly Citovsky1
- Department of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5215, USA
- Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11973, USA
- Department of Horticulture, 1165 Horticulture Building, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907-1165, USA
Correspondence to:
Vitaly Citovsky, E-mail: vitaly.citovsky@sunysb.edu
Received 2 December 1999; Accepted 7 January 2000; Revised 7 January 2000
Abstract
Virus-encoded movement protein (MP) mediates cell-to-cell spread of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) through plant intercellular connections, the plasmodesmata. The molecular pathway by which TMV MP interacts with the host cell is largely unknown. To understand this process better, a cell wall-associated protein that specifically binds the viral MP was purified from tobacco leaf cell walls and identified as pectin methylesterase (PME). In addition to TMV MP, PME is recognized by MPs of turnip vein clearing virus (TVCV) and cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV). The use of amino acid deletion mutants of TMV MP showed that its domain was necessary and sufficient for association with PME. Deletion of the PME-binding region resulted in inactivation of TMV cell-to-cell movement.
Keywords:
- movement proteins,
- pectin methylesterases,
- plant viruses,
- plasmodesmata,
- tobacco
