Barcoding of Plant Viruses with Circular Single-Stranded DNA Based on Rolling Circle Amplification

The experience with a diagnostic technology based on rolling circle amplification (RCA), restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses, and direct or deep sequencing (Circomics) over the past 15 years is surveyed for the plant infecting geminiviruses, nanoviruses and associated satellite DNAs, which have had increasing impact on agricultural and horticultural losses due to global transportation and recombination-aided diversification. Current state methods for quarantine measures are described to identify individual DNA components with great accuracy and to recognize the crucial role of the molecular viral population structure as an important factor for sustainable plant protection.

Initiation of DNA replication in a eukaryotic rolling-circle replicon: identification of multiple DNA-protein complexes at the geminivirus origin

The mechanism of initiation of DNA replication in eukaryotic rolling- circle replicons is still poorly understood in molecular terms. Geminiviruses, a family of plant DNA viruses, which use this strategy during part of their replicative cycle, replicate in the nucleus and are amenable to molecular studies. Except for the virally encoded initiator protein (Rep), geminivirus DNA replication relies on cellular factors, likely interfering with cell cycle regulation of the infected cell. Here, we report the identification of three distinct DNA-protein complexes of the DNA replication initiator protein encoded by wheat dwarf geminivirus (WDV) within viral regulatory sequences controlling DNA replication and transcription. We have mapped the WDV Rep binding sites by combining gel-shift assays, electron microscopy and DNase I footprinting. Two of the Rep-DNA complexes (C and the V) are high-affinity complexes, located in the proximity of the two divergent TATA boxes, at 150 and 90 bp, respectively, from the DNA replication initiation site. The third one, the O-complex, is a low-affinity complex, which can assemble under conditions supporting the DNA cleavage reaction. This suggests that it might be responsible for initiation of rolling-circle DNA replication in WDV and other members of the Mastrevirus genus.

Organization of the cis-acting element required for wheat dwarf geminivirus DNA replication and visualization of a rep protein-DNA complex

Initiation of geminivirus DNA replication depends on the activity of the initiator protein (Rep) upon interaction with DNA sequences present in the intergenic region of the viral DNA. In this study, we have analyzed the DNA sequences present in the large intergenic region (LIR) of wheat dwarf virus (WDV), a subgroup I member of the geminivirus family, which are required for viral DNA replication. We have (i) defined the boundaries of the viral cis-acting DNA replication element, (ii) determined the contribution of different domains of the LIR to DNA replication efficiency, and (iii) visualized WDV Rep-DNA complexes. Analysis of unidirectional deletions from both sides of the LIR leads us to establish that a approximately 200-bp cis-acting element (core) is essential for viral DNA replication. It spans approximately 170 and 28 bp upstream and downstream, respectively, from the initiation site (+1), located in the invariant loop. This core element is flanked, at each side, by auxiliary regions (5'-aux and 3'-aux, approximately 70 and approximately 25 bp long, respectively), which contain DNA sequences that stimulate DNA replication. Competition experiments using viral replicating vectors bearing wild-type or mutant WDV LIRs suggest that the auxiliary regions may contribute to the stabilization and/or activity of the initiation complex formed by WDV Rep at the origin. We have visualized DNA-protein complexes by electron microscopy and a high-affinity binding site of WDV Rep protein within the core element has been mapped to approximately 144 +/- 18 bp upstream from the initiation site, between the start site for complementary-sense transcription and the TATA box. Our studies (i) establish the modular structure of the WDV DNA replication cis-acting element and (ii) provide direct evidence for the formation in vitro of a large nucleoprotein complex within the essential cis-acting element.