title: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus confronts host degradation by sheltering in small/midsized protein aggregates.
abstract: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a begomovirus transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci to tomato and other crops. TYLCV proteins are endangered by the host defenses. We have analyzed the capacity of the tomato plant and of the whitefly insect vector to degrade the six proteins encoded by the TYLCV genome. Tomato and whitefly demonstrated the highest proteolytic activity in the fractions containing soluble proteins, less-in large protein aggregates; a significant decrease of TYLCV proteolysis was detected in the intermediate-sized aggregates. All the six TYLCV proteins were differently targeted by the cytoplasmic and nuclear degradation machineries (proteases, ubiquitin 26S proteasome, autophagy). TYLCV could confront host degradation by sheltering in small/midsized aggregates, where viral proteins are less exposed to proteolysis. Indeed, TYLCV proteins were localized in aggregates of various sizes in both host organisms. This is the first study comparing degradation machinery in plant and insect hosts targeting all TYLCV proteins.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel. Electronic address: rena.gorovits@mail.huji.ac.il.
authors.forename: Rena
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gorovits
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Lilia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fridman
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Tel-Aviv University, Tel-Aviv 69978, Israel.
authors.forename: Mikhail
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kolot
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Or
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Rotem
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Murad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghanim
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Oz
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Shriki
authors.affiliation: Institute of Plant Sciences and Genetics in Agriculture, Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Henryk
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Czosnek
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D053839:Begomovirus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000502:physiology*; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D057131:Immune Evasion; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D066329:Protein Aggregates; D059748:Proteolysis; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D066329:Protein Aggregates; D014764:Viral Proteins
keywords: Geminivirus; Immuno-localization; Protein aggregation; Protein degradation