Single amino acid changes decouple two opposite activities of a viral auxiliary replication protein

Abstract

We recently reported that the p28 auxiliary replication protein encoded by turnip crinkle virus (TCV) is also responsible for eliciting superinfection exclusion (SIE) against superinfecting TCV. However, it remains unresolved whether the replication function of p28 could be separated from its ability to elicit SIE. Here we report the identification of two single amino acid (aa) mutations that decouple these two functions. Using an Agrobacterium infiltration-based delivery system, we transiently expressed a series of p28 deletion and point mutants, and tested their ability to elicit SIE against a co-introduced TCV replicon. We found that substituting alanine (A) for valine (V) and phenylalanine (F) at p28 positions 181 and 182, respectively, modestly compromised SIE in transiently expressed p28 derivatives. Upon incorporation into TCV replicons, V181A and F182A decoupled TCV replication and SIE diametrically. While V181A impaired SIE without detectably compromising replication, F182A abolished TCV replication but had no effect on SIE once the replication of the defective replicon was restored through complementation. Both mutations diminished accumulation of p28 protein, suggesting that p28 must reach a concentration threshold in order to elicit a strong SIE. Importantly, the severe reduction of F182A protein levels correlated with a dramatic loss in the number of intracellular p28 foci formed by p28-p28 interactions. Together these findings not only decouples the replication and SIE functions of p28, but also unveils a concentration dependence for p28 coalescence and SIE elicitation. These data further highlight the role of p28 multimerization in driving the exclusion of secondary TCV infections.\n\nIMPORTANCESuperinfection exclusion (SIE) insulates virus-infected cells from subsequent invasion by the same or closely related viruses. SIE has been observed in both animal and plant virus-infected cells. Therefore, a thorough understanding of how SIE is achieved at the molecular level is expected to inspire novel strategies for combating virus infections in humans, animals, and plants. Our group has been using turnip crinkle virus (TCV) to elucidate the molecular interactions critical for SIE elicitation. The current study builds on the previous observation that TCV SIE is elicited by one single TCV-encoded protein (p28), and further identifies key regions and amino acids that are needed for SIE. We unravel key amino acid changes that decouple the replication and SIE functions of p28, and provides novel mechanistic insights of SIE.