Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) infects all classes of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) and causes losses worldwide. The N gene is the most effective means of controlling TMV; however, this gene is associated with reduced yield and quality in flue-cured tobacco. The mode of inheritance of TMV resistance was determined in two tobacco introductions (TI) from N. tabacum germplasm, both of which produced a hypersensitive response when inoculated with TMV. Inheritance studies with TI 1504 and TI 1473 indicate that a single dominant gene controls resistance. The gene governing resistance in TI 1504 is allelic to the N gene in NC 567. The gene providing resistance in TI 1473 is not allelic to the N gene, providing a potentially new source of resistance. Currently, plant breeders must rely on the N gene. The N gene is used in the heterozygous state to help overcome poor agronomic effects associated with homozygous resistance; however, systemic movement of TMV is occasionally seen in resistant plants. A TMV susceptible inbred (K 326), a resistant inbred (NC 567), and three resistant hybrids (NC 297, RGH4, and Speight H2O) were inoculated with TMV at transplanting, layby, and topping using different inoculation methods. Plant parts were tested for viral presence and biological activity. Viral movement into all plant parts was observed in K 326. No systemic movement was evident in the plant parts of NC 567, while virus did move into the corollas, pistils, late season sucker growth, and roots of the resistant hybrids showing systemic necrosis. / Master of Science

Soybean mosaic virus (SMV; Genus Potyvirus; Family Potyviridae) is one of the most widespread viruses in soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.). Hutcheson, a cultivar developed in Virginia, is resistant to the common strains of SMV. However, new resistance-breaking (RB) isolates of SMV have emerged in natural infections to break the resistance of Hutcheson containing the Rsv1y allele. These RB isolates are SMV-G5 and G6-like based on the differential reactions on soybean cultivars with the Rsv1 locus, and are more G6-like based on the amino acid sequence of the coat protein (CP). The CP of the RB isolates is diverse at the amino and carboxy termini and highly conserved in the core region. RB isolates reduce the yield of susceptible cultivars and cause mottling of the seed coat. Dual infection of soybeans with SMV and BPMV increased the severity of symptoms, including plant stunting and SMV titer in comparison to single SMV inoculations. The reactions of Hutcheson and herbicide-tolerant Hutcheson RR were similar with or without herbicide application. Resistance to SMV is controlled by single dominant genes at three distinct loci, Rsv1, Rsv3 and Rsv4. The mechanisms of resistance at the Rsv3 and Rsv4 loci were investigated by tracking virus accumulation and movement over time using leaf immunoprints. The mechanisms of Rsv3 resistance include extreme resistance, hypersensitive response, or restriction to virus replication and movement, which are strain specific. The Rsv4 gene was found to function in a non-strain specific and non-necrotic manner. The mechanisms of Rsv4 resistance involve restricting both cell-to-cell and long distance movement of SMV. The Rsv1, Rsv3 and Rsv4 resistance genes exhibit a continuum of SMV-soybean interactions, and include complete susceptibility, local and systemic necrosis, restriction of virus movement (both cell-to-cell and long distance), reduction in virus accumulation, and extreme resistance with no detectable virus. Cultivars containing two genes for resistance, Rsv1 and Rsv3 or Rsv1 and Rsv4, were resistant to multiple strains of SMV tested and show great potential for gene pyramiding efforts to ensure a wider and more durable resistance to SMV in soybeans. / Ph. D.

No description available.

Les polérovirus infectent de nombreuses plantes d’intérêt économique telles que la pomme de terre, la betterave à sucre et les cucurbitacées. Ces virus icosaédriques renferment un ARN simple brin et leur capside est constituée d’une protéine majeure (CP) et d’un composant mineur (RT*) localisé à la surface des virions. Ces virus sont restreints aux cellules du phloème dans lesquelles ils se multiplient et se déplacent. Les protéines CP et RT sont essentielles à la dissémination du virus par le puceron vecteur et à son mouvement dans la plante. L’objectif de cette étude a consisté à identifier dans les cellules du phloème, les protéines associées aux virions susceptibles d’intervenir dans le cycle viral en criblant une banque d’ADNc de cellules compagnes (CC) d’A. thaliana avec les protéines de structure ou des domaines protéiques du CABYV. Quatre gènes codant pour une protéine Heat Shock (HSP), la profiline 3 (PRF3) une glysosyl hydrolase ; et la protéine « Response to low sulfur 3 » ont été identifiés. Tous ces gènes candidats interagissent avec le domaine RTC-ter du CABYV et avec la protéine RT* pour la protéine HSP. En plus de ces gènes candidats, je me suis intéressée à la protéine ALY, identifiée au laboratoire, au cours du criblage d’une banque d’ADNc de puceron entier avec les deux protéines de structure du Turnip yellows virus (un autre polérovirus). Cette protéine possède quatre orthologues chez Arabidopsis susceptibles d’être impliquées dans le mécanisme de gene silencing mis en place contre le Tomato Bushy Stunt Virus. Les protéines ALY sont donc des candidats intéressants et j’ai montré une interaction entre les protéines de structure du CABYV et du TuYV et les quatre orthologues d’Arabidopsis. L’implication de ces gènes candidats n’a pas pu être confirmée à ce jour dans des mutants knock-out d’arabidopsis. Les résultats complexes obtenus pour le candidat PRF3 au cours des analyses de validation fonctionnelle, m’a conduit à étudier l’interaction entre ce candidat et le domaine RTC-ter du CABYV in planta par FLIM mais aucune interaction n’a pu être confirmée à ce jour. Tous les candidats isolés lors du criblage de la banque d’ADNc de CC interagissant avec le domaine RTC-ter du CABYV, ce travail m’a conduit à analyser le rôle dans le cycle viral de ce domaine et de la protéine RT (sous sa forme complète ou dépourvue du domaine RTC-ter), en étudiant l’accumulation de ces mutants dans les plantes et le clivage de la protéine RT. Tout d’abord, afin de localiser précisément le site de clivage de la protéine RT, des mutants ponctuels dans la zone de clivage ont été réalisés ce qui a permis de montrer que la structure secondaire de la protéine est importante pour son clivage. Puis, afin d’analyser le rôle du domaine RTC-ter dans le cycle viral, j’ai obtenu par délétion, un mutant n’exprimant plus ce domaine. Ce mutant synthétise uniquement la protéine RT tronquée, forme des particules virales semblables au virus sauvage et est transmissible par puceron. Par contre, de façon surprenante, ce mutant est incapable d’envahir les feuilles non-inoculées d’une plante. Ce résultat suggère que les deux formes de la protéine RT (complète et tronquée) sont indispensables au mouvement à longue distance du virus et nous proposons un modèle dans lequel le domaine C-terminal de la protéine RT agit en trans sur la particule virale pour promouvoir le mouvement du CABYV à longue distance. / Poleroviruses infect a wide range of cultivated plants such as potatoes, sugar beet and plants of Cucurbitaceae family. These viruses are restricted to phloem tissue where they replicate in nucleated cells and translocate over long distances through sieve elements. Polerovirus capsid is composed of the major coat protein (CP) and of a minor component referred to as the readthrough (RT*) protein and exposed at the outside of the particles. CP and RT proteins are essential for virus movement and transmission by aphids. The aim of this study is to identify phloem proteins interacting with viral proteins and potentially involved in viral cycle, by screening an A. thaliana companion cell (CC) cDNA library with structural proteins or protein domains of CABYV. Four genes encoding for a heat shock protein (HSP), a profilin (PRF3), a glycosyl hydrolase and the protein ”Response to low sulfur ” (LSU3) were identified and interact with the C-terminal part of the RT protein (RTC‑ter) and with the RT* protein for the HSP. An additional gene encoding for the protein ALY, identified in the laboratory, by screening an aphid cDNA library with structural proteins of the Turnip yellows virus (another polerovirus) was studied. This protein has four orthologues in Arabidopsis, involved in the gene silencing mechanism against Tomato Bushy Stunt Virus. Here we show that CABYV and TuYV structural proteins interact with the four orthologues of Arabidopsis. Involvement of these candidate genes was not confirmed in Arabidopsis knock-out mutants. In functional experiments, ambiguous results were obtained with PRF3 arabidopsis mutants, and this lead me to study the interaction between PRF3 protein CABYV RT c-ter domain by FLIM, but no interaction was found so far. As all candidat interact with the RTC-ter domain, we studied more precisely the role of this domain in the viral cycle and the role of the complete RT protein. We studied the in vivo RT protein processing and its consequences on systemic movement of CABYV mutants. Using a collection of point mutations introduced in the central domain of the CABYV RT protein, we approached the site of the RT processing and proposed that this process is affected by the secondary structure around the cleavage site. We also reported for the first time the generation of a polerovirus mutant able to synthesize only the RT* protein and to incorporate it into the particle. This mutant was unable to move systemically. Conversely another mutant producing a full-length RT protein impaired in correct processing and incorporating a shorter version of the RT* protein showed very weak systemic infection. These data are strongly in favor of a role of both RT proteins in efficient CABYV movement. An inefficient virus transport was still maintained in the absence of RT proteins suggesting an RT-independent movement pathway. Based on these results, we propose a model for CABYV long-distance transport in which the complete RT protein, or its C-terminal part, acts in trans on wild-type virions to promote their efficient long-distance transport.