Brassica yellows virus’ movement protein upregulates anthocyanin accumulation, leading to the development of purple leaf symptoms on Arabidopsis thaliana

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 8; no. 1; pp. 16273 - 14
• Main Authors: Chen, Xiang-Ru, Wang, Ying, Zhao, Hang-Hai, Zhang, Xiao-Yan, Wang, Xian-Bing, Li, Da-Wei, Yu, Jia-Lin, Han, Cheng-Gui
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 02-11-2018; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/1; 38/39; 38/43; 38/44; 38/47; 38/71; 38/77; 38/90; 38/91; 631/326/421; 631/326/596/2557; 631/337/2019; Arabidopsis thaliana; Biosynthesis; Brassica; Coloration; Economic importance; Gene expression; Humanities and Social Sciences; Leaves; Movement protein; multidisciplinary; Pathogenicity; Pathogens; Phenotypes; Plants; Proteins; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Transgenic plants; Yellows; Anthocyanin Biosynthetic Pathway; Global Transcriptome Profiling; Anthocyanin Accumulation; Turnip Yellows Virus (TuYV); Polerovirus
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-34591-5

Poleroviruses are widely distributed and often of great economic importance because they cause a variety of symptoms, such as the rolling of young leaves, leaf color changes, and plant decline, in infected plants. However, the molecular mechanism behind these viral-induced symptoms is still unknown. Here, we verified the pathogenicity of the polerovirus Brassica yellows virus (BrYV) by transforming its full-length amplicon into
Arabidopsis thaliana
, which resulted in many abnormal phenotypes. To better understand the interactions between BrYV and its host, global transcriptome profiles of the transgenic plants were compared with that of non-transgenic Arabidopsis plants. An association between the BrYV- induced purple leaf symptoms and the activation of anthocyanin biosynthesis was noted. Using the transgenic approach, we found that movement protein of BrYV was responsible for the induction of these coloration symptoms. Collectively, our findings demonstrate the BrYV’ pathogenicity and show that the BrYV-induced purple leaf symptom resulted from its movement protein stimulating anthocyanin accumulation.