Interaction of non-enveloped plant viruses and their viral coat proteins with phospholipid vesicles

A Novel Platform for Root Protection Applies New Root-Coating Technologies to Mitigate Soil-Borne Tomato Brown Rugose Fruit Virus Disease

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a soil-borne virus showing a low percentage of ca. 3% soil-mediated infection when the soil contains root debris from a previous 30–50 day growth cycle of ToBRFV-infected tomato plants. We designed stringent conditions of soil-mediated ToBRFV infection by increasing the length of the pre-growth cycle to 90–120 days, adding a ToBRFV inoculum as well as truncating seedling roots, which increased seedling susceptibility to ToBRFV infection. These rigorous conditions were employed to challenge the efficiency of four innovative root-coating technologies in mitigating soil-mediated ToBRFV infection while avoiding any phytotoxic effect. We tested four different formulations, which were prepared with or without the addition of various virus disinfectants. We found that under conditions of 100% soil-mediated ToBRFV infection of uncoated positive control plants, root-coating with formulations based on methylcellulose (MC), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), silica Pickering emulsion and super-absorbent polymer (SAP) that were prepared with the disinfectant chlorinated-trisodium phosphate (Cl-TSP) showed low percentages of soil-mediated ToBRFV infection of 0%, 4.3%, 5.5% and 0%, respectively. These formulations had no adverse effect on plant growth parameters when compared to negative control plants grown under non ToBRFV inoculation conditions.

Tobacco mosaic virus adsorption on self-assembled and Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers studied by TIRF and SFM

The adsorption of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) on self-assembled and Langmuir-Blodgett monolayers was investigated using total internal reflection fluorescence (TIRF) spectroscopy and scanning force microscopy (SFM). Substrates were chosen to probe electrostatic, hydrophobic and surface fluidity effects on TMV adsorption. Positively charged and hydrophobic surfaces demonstrated similar initial rates of TMV adsorption; however, their respective surface TMV coverages differed greatly. Likewise, positively charged surfaces which differed primarily in surface fluidity exhibited similar adsorption rates for TMV, but different TMV surface coverages. In contrast, virus adsorption to negatively charged and zwitterionic substrates was negligible. To elucidate these differences in adsorption behavior, SFM was used to image the distribution and the aggregation state of adsorbed TMV.

Interaction of phospholipids with proteins and peptides. New advances III

1. The review deals with the recent achievements in the study of the various interactions of phospholipids with proteins and peptides. 2. The interactions are classified according to the hydrophobic, hydrophilic or mixed character of the interactive forces. 3. The effect of the interaction on the structure and biological activity of the interacting molecules is also discussed.