The N-terminus of the cauliflower mosaic virus aphid transmission protein P2 is involved in transmission body formation and microtubule interaction.

Cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) is transmitted by aphids using the non-circulative transmission mode: when the insects feed on infected leaves, virus particles from infected cells attach rapidly to their stylets and are transmitted to a new host when the aphids change plants. Mandatory for CaMV transmission, the viral helper protein P2 mediates as a molecular linker binding of the virus particles to the aphid stylets. P2 is available in infected plant cells in a viral inclusion that is specialized for transmission and named the transmission body (TB). When puncturing an infected leaf cell, the aphid triggers an ultra-rapid viral response, necessary for virus acquisition and called transmission activation: The TB disrupts and P2 is redistributed onto cortical microtubules, together with virus particles that are simultaneously set free from virus factories and join P2 on the microtubules to form the so-called mixed networks (MNs). The MNs are the predominant structure from which CaMV is acquired by aphids. However, the P2 domains involved in microtubule interaction are not known. To identify P2 regions involved in its functions, we generated a set of P2 mutants by alanine scanning and analyzed them in the viral context for their capacity to form a TB, to interact with microtubules and to transmit CaMV. Our results show that contrary to the previously characterized P2-P2 and P2-virion binding sites in its C-terminus, the microtubule binding site is contained in the N-terminal half of P2. Further, this region is important for TB formation since some P2 mutant proteins did not accumulate in TBs but were retained in the viral factories where P2 is translated. Taken together, the N-terminus of P2 is not only involved in vector interaction as previously reported, but also in interaction with microtubules and in formation of TBs.