title: The antagonistic effect of Banana bunchy top virus multifunctional protein B4 against Fusarium oxysporum.
abstract: The viral-induced banana bunchy top disease and the fungal-induced banana blight are two major causes of concern for industrial scale production of bananas. Banana blight is particularly troublesome, affecting ∼80% of crops worldwide. Strict guidelines and protocols are in place in order to ameliorate the effects of this devastating disease, yet little success has been achieved. From the data presented here, we have found that Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV)-infected bananas are more resistant to Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense (Foc). BBTV appears to be antagonistic towards Foc, thus improving the survivability of plants against blight. The BBTV suppressor of RNA silencing, namely protein B4, displays fungicidal properties in vitro. Furthermore, transgenic tomatoes expressing green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged protein B4 demonstrate enhanced resistance to F. oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici (Fol). Differential gene expression analysis indicates that increased numbers of photogenesis-related gene transcripts are present in dark-green leaves of B4-GFP-modified tomato plants relative to those found in WT plants. Conversely, the transcript abundance of immunity-related genes is substantially lower in transgenic tomatoes compared with WT plants, suggesting that plant defences may be influenced by protein B4. This viral-fungal interaction provides new insights into microbial community dynamics within a single host and has potential commercial value for the breeding of transgenic resistance to Fusarium-related blight/wilt.
authors.affiliation: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.|Key Laboratory of Biopesticide and Chemical Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biosciences, College of Science, Swansea University, Swansea, SA2 8PP, UK.
authors.forename: Christopher J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Coates
authors.affiliation: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.|Key Laboratory of Biopesticide and Chemical Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
authors.forename: Qianzhuo
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.affiliation: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.|Key Laboratory of Biopesticide and Chemical Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
authors.forename: Zujian
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Plant Virology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.|Key Laboratory of Biopesticide and Chemical Biology, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Ministry of Education, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
authors.forename: Lianhui
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000890:Anti-Infective Agents / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology; D052658:Babuvirus / Q000378:metabolism*; D002462:Cell Membrane / Q000378:metabolism; D060467:Disease Resistance; D005670:Fusarium / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000235:genetics / Q000382:microbiology; D028521:Musa / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D058526:Plant Vascular Bundle / Q000382:microbiology / Q000821:virology; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000890:Anti-Infective Agents; D014764:Viral Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins
keywords: Banana bunchy top virus; Fusarium wilt; plant immunity; transgenic crops; viral-fungal interaction