title: The 5' untranslated region of Bean pod mottle virus RNA2 tolerates unusually large deletions or insertions.
abstract: Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV) is a bipartite, positive-sense (+) RNA virus of Secoviridae. We recently reported that a 137 nucleotide (nt) stretch (#263-399) of the 466 nt 5' untranslated region (5' UTR) of BPMV RNA2 can be deleted without compromising BPMV propagation in host plants [Lin et al., J. Gen. Virol. 94 (2013) 1415-1420]. Here we demonstrate that nonviral insertions of up to 625 nt is tolerated by the same region. Furthermore, one insertion mutant underwent recombination in infected plants, leading to the truncation of nt #250-361, thus extending the dispensable sequence to 150 nt (nt #250-399). We are unaware of any other (+) RNA virus that tolerates insertion/deletion of these sizes (625 nt/150 nt) within its 5' UTR. Importantly, tolerance of large insertions within the RNA2 5' UTR offers a novel, more convenient site for incorporating host gene fragments, making BPMV a more versatile vector of virus-induced gene silencing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, USA; Department of Biology, College of Science, The University of Mustansiriyah, Iraq.
authors.forename: Ahmed Khamis
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ali
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
authors.forename: Junyan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, USA.
authors.forename: Junping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Department of Biotechnology, College Science, Al-Nahrain University, Baghdad, Iraq.
authors.forename: Kadhim Mohammad
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Plant Protection Department, College of Agriculture, University of Baghdad, Abu-Ghraib, Iraq.
authors.forename: Mysire Majeed
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Jarjees
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, The Ohio State University, 1680 Madison Ave., Wooster, OH 44691, USA. Electronic address: qu.28@osu.edu.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Qu
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D001483:Base Sequence; D017798:Comovirus / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D013025:Glycine max / Q000821:virology*
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: 5′ Untranslated region; Bean pod mottle virus; Plant virus; RNA virus; Virus-induced gene silencing