The involvement of the movement protein (MP) of Citrus leprosis-associated viruses with the natural restraint of systemic viral spread in the plant.

• Grant number: 17/19898-8
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: March 12, 2018
• End date: March 11, 2019
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Juliana de Freitas Astúa
• Grantee: Mikhail Oliveira Leastro
• Supervisor: Jesus Angel Sanchez Navarro
• Host Institution: Instituto Biológico (IB). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Plantas (IBMCP), Spain
• Associated to the scholarship: 15/10249-1 - Studies of infective processes of Citrus leprosis virus (CiLV-C), with emphasis in the construction of infectious clone and characterization of viral proteins., BP.PD

Abstract

The movement protein (MP) of plant virus is essential to ensure the spread viral into the cell and to neighboring cells facilitating the success of infection. Citrus leprosis disease mainly is caused by viruses of genera Cilevirus and Dichorhavirus. There is also a single report of leprosis-like symptoms in Volkamerian lemon in Hawaii caused by a species of the genus Higrevirus. Regardless of the host, all plant species infected with the leprosis-associated viruses exhibit a limitation in the systemic viral spread. Therefore, the viruses only infect the vector feeding region in the plant and adjacent cells mediated by cell-to-cell viral movement. Based on this aspect, thepresent project seeks to understand the possible involvement of the movement proteins of species included in the two main genera (Cilevirus and Dichorhavirus) with the natural limitation of viruses in ensuring systemic infection in the plant. To this end, we propose to use the heterologous Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV) model systemthat allows evaluating the efficiency of viral movement from introduction of heterologous MPs. Thus, in this sense, the efficiency in cell-to-cell and systemic movement from citrus leprosis MPs (CL-MPs) could be analyzed by the AMV system. Still within the viral movement process, we also propose to analyze: i) tubule formation from transfection of P12 protoplasts with CL-MPs, ii) whether or notcilevirus and dichorhavirus transport mediated by MPs is dependent upon the formation of tubular structures, iii) if the cell-to-cell movement of the studied species is dependent on the nucleocapsid assembly, iv) the MPs motifs involved with viral movement and tubule formation, v) the subcellular localization of the MPs aiming the co-localization with plasmodesmata. Additionally, we intend to address the validation of the Citrus leprosis virus C infectious clone, developed in the original proposal. The expected results from theses studies may clarify whether the natural limitation in systemic infection of the citrus leprosis-associated viruses has direct connection withthe viral MPs.

Scientific publications

(4)

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

LEASTRO, MIKHAIL OLIVEIRA; FREITAS-ASTUA, JULIANA; KITAJIMA, ELLIOT WATANABE; PALLAS, VICENTE; SANCHEZ-NAVARRO, JESUS ANGEL. Dichorhaviruses Movement Protein and Nucleoprotein Form a Protein Complex That May Be Required for Virus Spread and Interacts in vivo With Viral Movement-Related Cilevirus Proteins. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 11, NOV 4 2020. (17/19898-8, 15/10249-1, 17/50222-0)

LEASTRO, MIKHAIL OLIVEIRA; FREITAS-ASTUA, JULIANA; KITAJIMA, ELLIOT WATANABE; PALLAS, VICENTE; SANCHEZ-NAVARRO, JESUS A.. Unravelling the involvement of cilevirus p32 protein in the viral transport. SCIENTIFIC REPORTS, v. 11, n. 1, FEB 3 2021. (15/10249-1, 17/50222-0, 17/19898-8)

LEASTRO, MIKHAIL OLIVEIRA; FREITAS-ASTUA, JULIANA; KITAJIMA, ELLIOT WATANABE; PALLAS, VICENTE; SANCHEZ-NAVARRO, JESUS A.. Membrane Association and Topology of Citrus Leprosis Virus C2 Movement and Capsid Proteins. MICROORGANISMS, v. 9, n. 2, FEB 2021. (15/10249-1, 17/19898-8, 17/50222-0)

LEASTRO, MIKHAIL OLIVEIRA; ORTEGA CASTRO, DEIBIS YORLENIS; FREITAS-ASTUA, JULIANA; KITAJIMA, ELLIOT WATANABE; PALLAS, VICENTE; SANCHEZ-NAVARRO, JESUS ANGEL. Citrus Leprosis Virus C Encodes Three Proteins With Gene Silencing Suppression Activity. FRONTIERS IN MICROBIOLOGY, v. 11, JUN 9 2020. (15/10249-1, 17/50222-0, 17/19898-8)