This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Reprints and Permissions Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Liang, X.-Z. Articles by Wong, S.-M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Liang, X.-Z. Articles by Wong, S.-M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Virology, December 2002, p. 12312-12319, Vol. 76, No. 23
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.23.12312-12319.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

The p23 Protein of Hibiscus Chlorotic Ringspot Virus Is Indispensable for Host-Specific Replication

Xiao-Zhen Liang,¹ Andrew P. Lucy,² Shou-Wei Ding,^2,3 and Sek-Man Wong^1,2*

Department of Biological Sciences,¹ Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, The National University of Singapore, Singapore 117604, Republic of Singapore,² Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521³

Received 21 May 2002/ Accepted 3 September 2002

Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus (HCRSV) possesses a novel open reading frame (ORF) which encodes a putative 23-kDa protein (p23). We report here the in vivo detection of p23 and demonstrate its essential role in viral replication. The expression of p23 could be detected in protein extracts from transfected kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus L.) protoplasts and in HCRSV-infected leaves. Further, direct immunoblotting of infected kenaf leaves also showed the presence of p23, and transient expression in onion and kenaf cells demonstrated that the protein is distributed throughout the cell. Site-directed mutagenesis showed that mutations introduced into the ORF of p23 abolished viral replication in kenaf protoplasts and plants but not in Chenopodium quinoa L. The loss of function of the p23 mutant M23/S33-1 could be complemented in trans upon the induced expression of p23 from an infiltrated construct bearing the ORF (pCam23). Altogether, these results demonstrate that p23 is a bona fide HCRSV protein that is expressed in vivo and suggest that p23 is indispensable for the host-specific replication of HCRSV. In addition, we show that p23 does not bind nucleic acids in vitro and does not act as a suppressor of posttranscriptional gene silencing in transgenic tobacco carrying a green fluorescent protein.

---

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Biological Sciences, The National University of Singapore, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore. Phone: (65) 68742976. Fax: (65) 67792486. E-mail: dbswsm{at}nus.edu.sg.

---

Journal of Virology, December 2002, p. 12312-12319, Vol. 76, No. 23
0022-538X/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/JVI.76.23.12312-12319.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Rancurel, C., Khosravi, M., Dunker, A. K., Romero, P. R., Karlin, D. (2009). Overlapping Genes Produce Proteins with Unusual Sequence Properties and Offer Insight into De Novo Protein Creation. J. Virol. 83: 10719-10736 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Ren, Y., Wong, S.-M., Lim, L.-Y. (2006). In vitro-reassembled plant virus-like particles for loading of polyacids. J. Gen. Virol. 87: 2749-2754 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Meng, C., Chen, J., Peng, J., Wong, S.-M. (2006). Host-induced avirulence of hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus mutants correlates with reduced gene-silencing suppression activity. J. Gen. Virol. 87: 451-459 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Wang, H.-H., Wong, S.-M. (2004). Significance of the 3'-terminal region in minus-strand RNA synthesis of Hibiscus chlorotic ringspot virus. J. Gen. Virol. 85: 1763-1776 [Abstract] [Full Text]