Sarasate Eiamtanasate. Use of green fluorescent protein for subcellular localization study of papaya ringspot potyvirus P3 protein. Doctoral Degree(Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering). Mahidol University. : Mahidol University, 2007.
Use of green fluorescent protein for subcellular localization study of papaya ringspot potyvirus P3 protein
Abstract:
Papaya ringspot potyvirus (PRSV) causes a severe disease in papayas. Its
genome is a single messenger-polarity RNA which is translated into a polyprotein
that is processed into 10 functional proteins. The P3 protein, encoded by the 3rd
cistron has been proposed to be involved in viral replication, pathogenicity
determination and host specificity. However, its exact function/s and subcellular
localization in infected cells still remain unclear. Therefore, the objective of this
study was to determine the subcellular localization of PRSV P3 by expressing its
green fluorescent (GFP) fusion protein in onion epidermal cells, in order to further
understand its function/s.
Plant expression vectors containing P3 or its derivatives fused with gfp gene
were constructed and expressed transiently in onion epidermal cells. Single or cobombardment
of each of the above constructs with an endoplasmic reticulum (ER)
targeted DsRed2 construct (ER-DsRed2) indicated that GFP fusion proteins of P3-
, P3-6K1- and N-terminal truncated P3 (CP3-6K1-GFP) were localized at ER,
whereas those of 6K1- and C- terminal truncated P3 (NP3-GFP) were expressed
all over the transfected cells as for the free GFP. These results suggested that P3 is
localized at ER, and the localization determinant sequence is located at its Cterminus.
The result also indicated that the presence of 6K1 protein, encoded by
the 4th cistron, does not affect the localization of P3 protein as suggested in other
reports. The lack of ER-targeted sequence suggested that the presence of
hydrophobic region/s within the P3 protein might contribute to its ER localization.
Therefore, hydrophobic region prediction was performed and 2 hydrophobic
regions located at the N- and C-terminal region of P3 protein respectively were
found. A construct which express the second hydrophobic region (Hy2) fused with
GFP in plant cell was created and expressed in onion epidermal cells. The results
indicated that Hy2 GFP fusion protein co-localized with the ER-DsRed2 fusion
protein. These data confirm that the Hy2 which is located at the C-terminal region
is the localization determinant sequence for PRSV P3 protein.