Precisely Monomeric Linear RNAs of Viroids Belonging to Pospiviroid and Hostuviroid Genera Are Infectious Regardless of Transcription Initiation Site and 5'-Terminal Structure

The Secondary Structure of Potato Spindle Tuber Viroid Determines Its Infectivity in Nicotiana benthamiana

The function of RNAs is determined by their structure. However, studying the relationship between RNA structure and function often requires altering RNA sequences to modify the structures, which leads to the neglect of the importance of RNA sequences themselves. In our research, we utilized potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd), a circular-form non-coding infectious RNA, as a model with which to investigate the role of a specific rod-like structure in RNA function. By generating linear RNA transcripts with different start sites, we established 12 PSTVd forms with different secondary structures while maintaining the same sequence. The RNA secondary structures were predicted using the mfold tool and validated through native PAGE gel electrophoresis after in vitro RNA folding. Analysis using plant infection assays revealed that the formation of a correct rod-like structure is crucial for the successful infection of PSTVd. Interestingly, the inability of PSTVd forms with non-rod-like structures to infect plants could be partially compensated by increasing the amount of linear viroid RNA transcripts, suggesting the existence of additional RNA secondary structures, such as the correct rod-like structure, alongside the dominant structure in the RNA inoculum of these forms. Our study demonstrates the critical role of RNA secondary structures in determining the function of infectious RNAs.

Modes of Viroid Transmission

Studies on the ways in which viroids are transmitted are important for understanding their epidemiology and for developing effective control measures for viroid diseases. Viroids may be spread via vegetative propagules, mechanical damage, seed, pollen, or biological vectors. Vegetative propagation is the most prevalent mode of spread at the global, national and local level while further dissemination can readily occur by mechanical transmission through crop handling with viroid-contaminated hands or pruning and harvesting tools. The current knowledge of seed and pollen transmission of viroids in different crops is described. Biological vectors shown to transmit viroids include certain insects, parasitic plants, and goats. Under laboratory conditions, viroids were also shown to replicate in and be transmitted by phytopathogenic ascomycete fungi; therefore, fungi possibly serve as biological vectors of viroids in nature. The term “mycoviroids or fungal viroids” has been introduced in order to denote these viroids. Experimentally, known sequence variants of viroids can be transmitted as recombinant infectious cDNA clones or transcripts. In this review, we endeavor to provide a comprehensive overview of the modes of viroid transmission under both natural and experimental situations. A special focus is the key findings which can be applied to the control of viroid diseases.

An Improved Method for the Extraction of Nucleic Acids from Plant Tissue without Grinding to Detect Plant Viruses and Viroids

Gene amplification techniques such as polymerase chain reaction (PCR) are widely used for the diagnosis of plant diseases caused by viruses and viroids. It is preferable that sample preparation methods for PCR or reverse transcription (RT) PCR are rapid, straightforward, and inexpensive. We previously reported a method for the extraction of nucleic acids without mechanical tissue grinding using a buffer containing potassium ethyl xanthogenate (PEX) to detect viroid RNAs. In the present report, the previous PEX method was improved and simplified. In the simplified PEX (SPEX) method, the process of PEX buffer treatment for plant cell wall disruption is improved to one step of incubation at 80 °C for 10 min, instead of three steps that took more than 26 min at 65 °C in the previous method. Total nucleic acids could be extracted from fresh, frozen, or dried leaves of a cultivar or wild species of tobacco, tomato, citron, hop plants, and pericarps of persimmon fruits by the SPEX method. Several RNA viruses and viroids were successfully detected from the extracted nucleic acids together with an internal mRNA by RT-PCR. The SPEX method may be useful for detecting not only viruses and viroids, but also other plant pathogens.