Morita, M. T. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2023

Cell polarity linked to gravity sensing is generated by protein translocation from statoliths to the plasma membrane.

Organisms have evolved under the gravitational force and sense the direction of gravity via statoliths in specialized cells. In the gravitropism of flowering plants, the starch-accumulating plastids, amyloplasts, in gravity sensing cells act as statoliths. The gravity sensing mechanism has long been considered a mechanosensing process by which amyloplasts transmit forces to intracellular structures, but the molecular support has not been reported. This study revealed that LAZY1-LIKE family proteins involved in gravity signaling in statocytes are localized to the amyloplast periphery and its proximal plasma membrane, resulting in polar localization according to the direction of gravity. We propose a gravity sensing mechanism by which LZY transmits the positional information of amyloplasts, i.e., the direction of gravity, by translocating to the plasma membrane.

plant biology↗

bioRxiv2022

A plant virus causes symptoms through the deployment of a host-mimicking protein domain to attract the insect vector

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites with limited proteomes that heavily rely on the cell molecular machinery for their multiplication and spread. Plant viruses frequently cause symptoms through interference with host developmental programs. Despite the agricultural relevance of symptom development in virus-infected crops, the molecular mechanisms underlying these viral effects remain elusive. Here, we show that the symptoms triggered by tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) depend on the physical interaction between the host-mimicking domain of a virus-encoded protein, C4, and a plant-specific family of RCC1-like domain-containing (RLD) proteins. C4 outcompetes endogenous interactors of RLDs, disrupting RLD function in the regulation of endomembrane trafficking and polar auxin transport, ultimately leading to the developmental alterations recognized as symptoms of the viral infection. Importantly, symptoms do not have a detectable effect on the performance of the virus in the plant host, but they serve as attractants for the viral insect vector, the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, hence promoting pathogen spread. Our work uncovers the molecular underpinnings of the viral manipulation that leads to symptom development in the TYLCV-tomato pathosystem, and suggests that symptoms have evolved as a strategy to promote viral transmission by the insect vector. Given that most plant viruses are insect-transmitted, the principles described here might have broad applicability to crop-virus interactions.

plant biology↗