Repository logo
 

Viral Perturbation of Alternative Splicing of a Host Transcript Benefits Infection

Accepted version
Peer-reviewed

No Thumbnail Available

Type

Article

Change log

Authors

Du, Kaitong 
Chen, Hui 
Du, Zhiyou 

Abstract

Pathogens disturb alternative splicing patterns of infected eukaryotic hosts. However, in plants it is not known if this is incidental to infection or represents a pathogen-induced remodeling of host gene expression needed to support infection. Here, we compared changes in transcription and protein accumulation with changes in transcript splicing patterns in maize infected with the globally-important pathogen sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV). Our results suggested that changes in alternative splicing play a major role in determining virus-induced proteomic changes. Focusing on Zea mays phytoene synthase 1 (ZmPSY1), which encodes the key regulatory enzyme in carotenoid biosynthesis, we found although SCMV infection decreases total ZmPSY1 transcript accumulation, the proportion of splice variant T001 increases by later infection stages so that ZmPSY1 protein levels are maintained. We determined that ZmPSY1 has two leaf-specific transcripts, T001 and T003, distinguished by differences between the respective 3ʹ-untranslated regions (UTRs). The shorter 3ʹ-UTR of T001 makes it the more efficient mRNA. Nonsense ZmPSY1 mutants or virus-induced silencing of ZmPSY1 expression suppressed SCMV accumulation, attenuated symptoms, and decreased chloroplast damage. Thus, ZmPSY1 acts as a pro-viral host factor required for virus accumulation and pathogenesis. Taken together, our findings reveal that SCMV infection-modulated alternative splicing ensures that ZmPSY1 synthesis is sustained during infection, which supports efficient virus infection.

Description

Keywords

Journal Title

Plant Physiology

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0032-0889

Volume Title

Publisher

American Society of Plant Biologists

Rights

All rights reserved
Sponsorship
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/R005397/1)
This work was supported by grants from Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs of China (2016ZX08010-001, 2018YFD020062), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 31371912, 31871930), and the Chinese Universities Scientific Fund (2019TC064) and a grant from the Ministry of Education of China (the 111 Project B13006). Work on SCMV by AMM and JPC is funded by BBSRC-Global Challenges Research Fund-Connected Grant BB/R005397/1.