Functional Analysis of a DNA-Shuffled Movement Protein Reveals That Microtubules Are Dispensable for the Cell-to-Cell Movement of Tobacco mosaic virus

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Abstract
Microtubules interact strongly with the viral movement protein (MP) of Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and are thought to transport the viral genome between plant cells. We describe a functionally enhanced DNA-shuffled movement protein (MPR3) that remained bound to the vertices of the cortical endoplasmic reticulum, showing limited affinity for microtubules. A single amino acid change was shown to confer the MPR3 phenotype. Disruption of the microtubule cytoskeleton in situ with pharmacological agents, or by silencing of the α-tubulin gene, had no significant effect on the spread of TMV vectors expressing wild-type MP (MPWT) and did not prevent the accumulation of MPWT in plasmodesmata. Thus, cell-to-cell trafficking of TMV can occur independently of microtubules. The MPR3 phenotype was reproduced when infection sites expressing MPWT were treated with a specific proteasome inhibitor, indicating that the degradation of MPR3 is impaired. We suggest that the improved viral transport functions of MPR3 arise from evasion of a host degradation pathway.