Skip to main content
Journal of Virology logoLink to Journal of Virology
. 1990 May;64(5):2437–2441. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.5.2437-2441.1990

Requirement for a viral trans-acting factor encoded by brome mosaic virus RNA-2 provides strong selection in vivo for functional recombinants.

A L Rao 1, T C Hall 1
PMCID: PMC249412  PMID: 2325208

Abstract

Interaction of specific nucleotide sequences with trans-acting proteins is intrinsic to replication of viral as well as eucaryotic genomes. Brome mosaic virus RNA-2 encodes one of the two viral proteins known to be essential for replication. (R. French, M. Janda, and P. Ahlquist, Science 231:1294-1297, 1986; P. A. Kiberstis, L. S. Loesch-Fries, and T. C. Hall, Virology 112:804-808, 1981). Transfection of barley protoplasts with wild-type transcripts of brome mosaic virus RNA-1 and RNA-3 and serial dilutions of RNA-2 transcripts possessing unaltered coding sequences but bearing mutations that greatly incapacitated replication of RNA-2 revealed that trace amounts of RNA-2 are sufficient to support replication of the viral genome. In six replicate experiments containing RNA-2 transcripts devoid of the 3' 200 nucleotides that encompass the tRNA-like structure containing the minus-strand promoter, detectable levels of progeny RNA-1 and RNA-3 and subgenomic RNA-4 were present. This showed that viral p2 protein translated from the supplied RNA-2 functioned in trans to support replication of RNA-1 and RNA-3. However, in two similar experiments, progeny RNA-2 with electrophoretic mobility indistinguishable from that of wild-type RNA-2 was seen at 24 h postinoculation. Northern hybridization (RNA blot) analysis confirmed the presence of the tRNA-like 3' terminus on these progeny RNAs, indicating that recombinational restoration of the deleted sequence had occurred. This suggests that, under certain circumstances, RNA recombination may be a rapid and frequent phenomenon.

Full text

PDF
2437

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Ahlquist P., Dasgupta R., Kaesberg P. Nucleotide sequence of the brome mosaic virus genome and its implications for viral replication. J Mol Biol. 1984 Feb 5;172(4):369–383. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(84)80012-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bujarski J. J., Kaesberg P. Genetic recombination between RNA components of a multipartite plant virus. 1986 May 29-Jun 4Nature. 321(6069):528–531. doi: 10.1038/321528a0. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Dreher T. W., Hall T. C. Mutational analysis of the sequence and structural requirements in brome mosaic virus RNA for minus strand promoter activity. J Mol Biol. 1988 May 5;201(1):31–40. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90436-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Dreher T. W., Hall T. C. Mutational analysis of the tRNA mimicry of brome mosaic virus RNA. Sequence and structural requirements for aminoacylation and 3'-adenylation. J Mol Biol. 1988 May 5;201(1):41–55. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90437-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Dreher T. W., Rao A. L., Hall T. C. Replication in vivo of mutant brome mosaic virus RNAs defective in aminoacylation. J Mol Biol. 1989 Apr 5;206(3):425–438. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(89)90491-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. French R., Ahlquist P. Intercistronic as well as terminal sequences are required for efficient amplification of brome mosaic virus RNA3. J Virol. 1987 May;61(5):1457–1465. doi: 10.1128/jvi.61.5.1457-1465.1987. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. French R., Janda M., Ahlquist P. Bacterial gene inserted in an engineered RNA virus: efficient expression in monocotyledonous plant cells. Science. 1986 Mar 14;231(4743):1294–1297. doi: 10.1126/science.231.4743.1294. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kirkegaard K., Baltimore D. The mechanism of RNA recombination in poliovirus. Cell. 1986 Nov 7;47(3):433–443. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90600-8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Makino S., Keck J. G., Stohlman S. A., Lai M. M. High-frequency RNA recombination of murine coronaviruses. J Virol. 1986 Mar;57(3):729–737. doi: 10.1128/jvi.57.3.729-737.1986. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Marsh L. E., Dreher T. W., Hall T. C. Mutational analysis of the core and modulator sequences of the BMV RNA3 subgenomic promoter. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Feb 11;16(3):981–995. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.3.981. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Miller W. A., Bujarski J. J., Dreher T. W., Hall T. C. Minus-strand initiation by brome mosaic virus replicase within the 3' tRNA-like structure of native and modified RNA templates. J Mol Biol. 1986 Feb 20;187(4):537–546. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90332-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Munishkin A. V., Voronin L. A., Chetverin A. B. An in vivo recombinant RNA capable of autocatalytic synthesis by Q beta replicase. Nature. 1988 Jun 2;333(6172):473–475. doi: 10.1038/333473a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Pyne J. W., Hall T. C. Efficient ribosome binding of brome mosaic virus (BMV) RNA4 contributes to its ability to outcompete the other BMV RNAs for translation. Intervirology. 1979;11(1):23–29. doi: 10.1159/000149008. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Rao A. L., Dreher T. W., Marsh L. E., Hall T. C. Telomeric function of the tRNA-like structure of brome mosaic virus RNA. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Jul;86(14):5335–5339. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.14.5335. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Saiki R. K., Gelfand D. H., Stoffel S., Scharf S. J., Higuchi R., Horn G. T., Mullis K. B., Erlich H. A. Primer-directed enzymatic amplification of DNA with a thermostable DNA polymerase. Science. 1988 Jan 29;239(4839):487–491. doi: 10.1126/science.2448875. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Towbin H., Staehelin T., Gordon J. Electrophoretic transfer of proteins from polyacrylamide gels to nitrocellulose sheets: procedure and some applications. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4350–4354. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4350. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Journal of Virology are provided here courtesy of American Society for Microbiology (ASM)

RESOURCES