Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus upregulates plant sulfite oxidase transcripts and increases sulfate levels in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.)

The Versatile Roles of Sulfur-Containing Biomolecules in Plant Defense-A Road to Disease Resistance

Sulfur (S) is an essential plant macronutrient and the pivotal role of sulfur compounds in plant disease resistance has become obvious in recent decades. This review attempts to recapitulate results on the various functions of sulfur-containing defense compounds (SDCs) in plant defense responses to pathogens. These compounds include sulfur containing amino acids such as cysteine and methionine, the tripeptide glutathione, thionins and defensins, glucosinolates and phytoalexins and, last but not least, reactive sulfur species and hydrogen sulfide. SDCs play versatile roles both in pathogen perception and initiating signal transduction pathways that are interconnected with various defense processes regulated by plant hormones (salicylic acid, jasmonic acid and ethylene) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Importantly, ROS-mediated reversible oxidation of cysteine residues on plant proteins have profound effects on protein functions like signal transduction of plant defense responses during pathogen infections. Indeed, the multifaceted plant defense responses initiated by SDCs should provide novel tools for plant breeding to endow crops with efficient defense responses to invading pathogens.

Molecular modeling and interaction between Arabidopsis sulfite oxidase and the GW motif of Turnip crinkle virus coat protein

Previous study has shown that Hibiscus sulfite oxidase (SO) interacts with Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (HCRSV) coat protein (CP) and triggers sulfur enhanced defense (SED). In this study, we show the interaction of Arabidopsis SO (AtSO) and Turnip crinkle virus (TCV) CP in Arabidopsis thaliana plants. We identified the binding sites of TCV CP (W274) and AtSO (D223) using bioinformatics and confirmed it experimentally. Mutation of binding site W274 to A274 in TCV CP resulted in failure of TCV infection. TCV accumulation in SO over-expression (SO_OE) plants was lower than that in wild-type (WT) and SO knock-out (SO_KO) plants at 7 dpi but reached a level similar to that of WT and SO_KO plants at 10 dpi. AtSO competed with Argonaute 1 (AGO1) for TCV CP binding in vitro. AtSO may serve as an anti-viral factor through sequestering TCV CP for binding with AGO1 and confers virus resistance.

Overexpression of the Maize Sulfite Oxidase Increases Sulfate and GSH Levels and Enhances Drought Tolerance in Transgenic Tobacco

Sulfite oxidase (SO) plays a pivotal role in sulfite metabolism. In our previous study, sulfite-oxidizing function of the SO from Zea mays (ZmSO) was characterized. To date, the knowledge of ZmSO's involvement in abiotic stress response is scarce. In this study, we aimed to investigate the role of ZmSO in drought stress. The transcript levels of ZmSO were relatively high in leaves and immature embryos of maize plants, and were up-regulated markedly by PEG-induced water stress. Overexpression of ZmSO improved drought tolerance in tobacco. ZmSO-overexpressing transgenic plants showed higher sulfate and glutathione (GSH) levels but lower hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) and malondialdehyde (MDA) contents under drought stress, indicating that ZmSO confers drought tolerance by enhancing GSH-dependent antioxidant system that scavenged ROS and reduced membrane injury. In addition, the transgenic plants exhibited more increased stomatal response than the wild-type (WT) to water deficit. Interestingly, application of exogenous GSH effectively alleviated growth inhibition in both WT and transgenic plants under drought conditions. qPCR analysis revealed that the expression of several sulfur metabolism-related genes was significantly elevated in the ZmSO-overexpressing lines. Taken together, these results imply that ZmSO confers enhanced drought tolerance in transgenic tobacco plants possibly through affecting stomatal regulation, GSH-dependent antioxidant system, and sulfur metabolism-related gene expression. ZmSO could be exploited for developing drought-tolerant maize varieties in molecular breeding.

UBE2J2 promotes hepatocellular carcinoma cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition and invasion in vitro

Ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2 J2 (UBE2J2) is an ubiquitin proteasome component that responds to proteotoxic stress. We found that UBE2J2 was highly expressed in cellular protrusions of HCCLM3 metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HC) cells. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that UBE2J2 was expressed at higher levels in HC patient tissues than in corresponding non-tumor tissues. Because cellular protrusions are important for cell invasion, we hypothesized that UBE2J2 promotes HC cell invasion. We used chip-based surface plasmon resonance (SPR) to assess possible mechanisms of UBE2J2-regulated HCCLM3 cell invasion. We found that p-EGFR interacted with UBE2J2, and this finding was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation analysis. UBE2J2 overexpression activated endothelial-mesenchymal transition in the non-invasive SMMC7721 HC cell line, and promoted invasion. UBE2J2 silencing reduced HCCLM3 cell invasion and endocytosis, and downregulated p-EGFR expression. p-EGFR inhibition by lapatinib reduced UBE2J2-promoted cell invasion, suggesting p-EGFR is important for UBE2J2-mediated HCCLM3 cell invasion. These findings demonstrate that endocytosis by HC cells is closely related to invasion, and may provide new anti-HC therapeutic targets. UBE2J2 may also be a novel biomarker for clinical HC diagnosis.

Differential expression of miRNAs and associated gene targets in grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3-infected plants

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a class of endogenous small non-coding RNAs (sRNA) that play an essential role in the regulation of target mRNAs expressed during plant development and in response to stress. MicroRNA expression profiling has helped to identify miRNAs that regulate a range of processes, including the plant's defence response to pathogens. In this study, differential miRNA expression in own-rooted Vitis vinifera cv. Cabernet Sauvignon plants infected with grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 was investigated with microarrays and next-generation sequencing (NGS) of sRNA and mRNA. These high-throughput approaches identified several differentially expressed miRNAs. Four miRNAs, identified by both approaches, were validated by stemloop RT-PCRs. Three of the predicted targets of the differentially expressed miRNAs were also differentially expressed in the transcriptome data of infected plants, and were validated by RT-qPCR. Identification of these miRNAs and their targets can lead to a better understanding of host-pathogen interactions involved in grapevine leafroll disease and the identification of possible targets for virus resistance.

AP4 activates cell migration and EMT mediated by p53 in MDA-MB-231 breast carcinoma cells

Tumor metastasis is the primary cause of mortality in most cancer patients. Before disassociation from the tumors, most of malignant tumor cells undergo the epithelial-mesenchymal transition to break away from the adhesions between the cells and the surrounding extracellular matrix. Recently, activating enhancer-binding protein (AP4) has been shown to be a mediator of EMT in colorectal cancer and high level of AP4 correlates with poor prognosis in cancer patients. It has been found that AP4 upregulates the genes involved in EMT and cell proliferation in colorectal cancer cells and that the aggressive human breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 are highly metastatic. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that AP4 may also affect cell migration and EMT in this cell type. Three different assays, including the wound-healing assay, the Boyden chamber assay, and the cell tracking assay, were employed to confirm that AP4 activated both cell migration and invasion. Immunofluorescence staining and Western blot analysis revealed that the cells underwent EMT when AP4 was upregulated. In contrast, overexpression of dominant-negative AP4, lacking the DNA-binding domain, inactivated the DNA-binding ability of endogenous AP4 and led to lower cell motility. Furthermore, we found that AP4 enhanced p53 expression at both transcriptional and translational levels. Knockdown of p53 by siRNA significantly diminished the activation of cell migration by AP4, indicating that AP4 can regulate cell migration via the activity of p53.

Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus coat protein is essential for cell-to-cell and long-distance movement but not for viral RNA replication

Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (HCRSV) is a member of the genus Carmovirus in the family Tombusviridae. In order to study its coat protein (CP) functions on virus replication and movement in kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), two HCRSV mutants, designated as p2590 (A to G) in which the first start codon ATG was replaced with GTG and p2776 (C to G) in which proline 63 was replaced with alanine, were constructed. In vitro transcripts of p2590 (A to G) were able to replicate to a similar level as wild type without CP expression in kenaf protoplasts. However, its cell-to-cell movement was not detected in the inoculated kenaf cotyledons. Structurally the proline 63 in subunit C acts as a kink for β-annulus formation during virion assembly. Progeny of transcripts derived from p2776 (C to G) was able to move from cell-to-cell in inoculated cotyledons but its long-distance movement was not detected. Virions were not observed in partially purified mutant virus samples isolated from 2776 (C to G) inoculated cotyledons. Removal of the N-terminal 77 amino acids of HCRSV CP by trypsin digestion of purified wild type HCRSV virions resulted in only T = 1 empty virus-like particles. Taken together, HCRSV CP is dispensable for viral RNA replication but essential for cell-to-cell movement, and virion is required for the virus systemic movement. The proline 63 is crucial for HCRSV virion assembly in kenaf plants and the N-terminal 77 amino acids including the β-annulus domain is required in T = 3 assembly in vitro.

Plant growth retardation and conserved miRNAs are correlated to Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus infection

Virus infection may cause a multiplicity of symptoms in their host including discoloration, distortion and growth retardation. Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (HCRSV) infection was studied using kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.), a non-wood fiber-producing crop in this study. Infection by HCRSV reduced the fiber yield and concomitant economic value of kenaf. We investigated kenaf growth retardation and fluctuations of four selected miRNAs after HCRSV infection. Vegetative growth (including plant height, leaf size and root development) was severely retarded. From the transverse and radial sections of the mock and HCRSV-infected kenaf stem, the vascular bundles of HCRSV-infected plants were severely disrupted. In addition, four conserved plant developmental and defence related microRNAs (miRNAs) (miR165, miR167, miR168 and miR171) and their respective target genes phabulosa (PHB), auxin response factor 8 (ARF8), argonaute 1 (AGO1) and scarecrow-like protein 1 (SCL1) displayed variation in expression levels after HCRSV infection. Compared with the mock inoculated kenaf plants, miR171 and miR168 and their targets SCL1 and AGO1 showed greater fluctuations after HCRSV infection. As HCRSV upregulates plant SO transcript in kenaf and upregulated AGO1 in HCRSV-infected plants, the expression level of AGO1 transcript was further investigated under sulfite oxidase (SO) overexpression or silencing condition. Interestingly, the four selected miRNAs were also up- or down-regulated upon overexpression or silencing of SO. Plant growth retardation and fluctuation of four conserved miRNAs are correlated to HCRSV infection.

Molecular characterization of the interaction between the N-terminal region of Potato virus X (PVX) coat protein (CP) and Nicotiana benthamiana PVX CP-interacting protein, NbPCIP1

Using yeast two-hybrid assays and a Nicotiana benthamiana cDNA library, we previously identified an N. benthamiana protein, NbPCIP1, that interacts with Potato virus X (PVX) coat protein (CP). We also previously determined that NbPCIP1 enhances PVX replication in plants. To determine the domains and/or amino acid residues required for PVX CP and NbPCIP1 interaction, here we used yeast two-hybrid and β-galactosidase filter assays to test the effects of deletion and site-directed mutations on the interaction. Truncation analysis revealed that the N-terminal region of PVX CP interacts with NbPCIP1. To identify which N-terminal region PVX CP amino acid(s) interact with NbPCIP1, we substituted the 12 charged amino acids on the PVX CP N-terminal region to alanine. Yeast two-hybrid, β-galactosidase filter, and bimolecular fluorescence complementation (BiFC) assays confirmed that ten of the 12 alanine-substituted mutations blocked the interaction with NbPCIP1. The results suggest that the N-terminal region of PVX CP including its helical structure is important for interaction with NbPCIP1.