6K2-induced vesicles can move cell to cell during turnip mosaic virus infection.

To successfully infect plants, viruses replicate in an initially infected cell and then move to neighboring cells through plasmodesmata (PDs). However, the nature of the viral entity that crosses over the cell barrier into non-infected ones is not clear. The membrane-associated 6K2 protein of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) induces the formation of vesicles involved in the replication and intracellular movement of viral RNA.

Contribution of host intracellular transport machineries to intercellular movement of turnip mosaic virus.

The contribution of different host cell transport systems in the intercellular movement of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) was investigated. To discriminate between primary infections and secondary infections associated with the virus intercellular movement, a gene cassette expressing GFP-HDEL was inserted adjacent to a TuMV infectious cassette expressing 6K₂:mCherry, both within the T-DNA borders of the binary vector pCambia. In this system, both gene cassettes were delivered to the same cell by a single binary vector and primary infection foci emitted green and red fluorescence while secondarily infected cells emitted only red fluorescence.

Impact on the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus of turnip mosaic virus infection.

The impact of turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) infection on the endomembranes of the host early secretory pathway was investigated using an infectious clone that has been engineered for tagging viral membrane structures with a fluorescent protein fused to the viral protein 6K(2). TuMV infection led to the amalgamation of the endoplasmic reticulum (ER), Golgi apparatus, COPII coatamers, and chloroplasts into a perinuclear globular structure that also contained viral proteins. One consequence of TuMV infection was that protein secretion was blocked at the ER-Golgi interface.