Tobamoviruses: Molecular Aspects and Resistance Regulation—a Special Issue Commemorating 125 Years of Research on Tobamoviruses

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Viruses of Plants, Fungi and Protozoa".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 June 2024) | Viewed by 12171

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Guest Editor
Distinguished Professor, Jeonbuk National University, Jeonju, Republic of Korea
Interests: molecular analysis of the signaling pathways of resistance elicited by tobacco mosaic virus in tobacco containing the N gene; molecular biology of cucumber mosaic virus, viroids, and satellites
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Guest Editor
Department of Plant Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EA, UK
Interests: plant pathology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In 1998, a 2-day symposium was held at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Scotland, to commemorate the first 100 years of research on TMV. The meeting was organized by Professors Bryan D. Harrison and T. Michael Wilson of what was then the Scottish Crop Research Institute (now the James Hutton Research Institute, in Dundee, UK), and was sponsored by The Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Royal Society of London, UK. As stated in a report of this meeting [1], “A wide diversity of research fields – crystallography, plant pathology, immunology, biochemistry, genetics, and evolutionary biology – was represented at the meeting, with distinguished symposium speakers describing the contributions made by their respective disciplines to our current understanding of TMV biology.” These presentations were published by the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences [2]. In the same year, a book was published, entitled “Tobacco Mosaic Virus. One Hundred Years of Contributions to Virology” [3], commemorating the major discoveries involving TMV, including reprints of the original papers. This year marks 125 years of research on TMV, but there is also much research on many other members of the genus Tobamovirus, in which TMV is the type member, that have added significantly to the literature. Here, we wish to commemorate this occasion by publishing a Special Issue of Viruses entitled “Tobamoviruses: Molecular Aspects and Resistance Regulation.” Hence, we invite papers to be submitted, from now until the end of 2023, for inclusion in this Special Issue. As always with Special Issue in Viruses, papers will be published very soon after acceptance. We look forward to receiving your submissions.

1. Creager, A.N.H.; Scholthof, K.-B.G.; Citovsky, V.; Scholthof, H.B. Tobacco mosaic virus: pioneering research for a century. Plant Cell 1999, 11, 301-308.
2. Harrison, B.D.; Wilson, T.M.A. Preface to tobacco mosaic virus: pioneering research for a century. A meeting held on 7 and 8 August 1998 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in association with the Royal Society of London. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 1999, 354, 519-519.
3. Scholthof, K.-B.G.; Shaw, J.G.; Zaitlin, M. (Eds.) Tobacco Mosaic Virus: One Hundred Years of Contributions to Virology; Am. Phytopathol. Soc. Press: St. Paul, MN, USA, 1999; p. 256.

Prof. Dr. Peter Palukaitis
Dr. Alex M. Murphy
Guest Editors

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Published Papers (6 papers)

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Editorial

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5 pages, 992 KiB  
Editorial
Tobamoviruses: Molecular Aspects and Resistance Regulation—A Special Issue Commemorating 125 Years of Research on Tobamoviruses
by Peter Palukaitis and Alex M. Murphy
Viruses 2025, 17(3), 296; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17030296 - 21 Feb 2025
Viewed by 431
Abstract
This Special Issue of Viruses was commissioned in 2023 to celebrate 125 years of research on Tobamoviruses [...] Full article
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Research

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42 pages, 7808 KiB  
Article
Getting Hold of the Tobamovirus Particle—Why and How? Purification Routes over Time and a New Customizable Approach
by Tim Wendlandt, Beate Britz, Tatjana Kleinow, Katharina Hipp, Fabian J. Eber and Christina Wege
Viruses 2024, 16(6), 884; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16060884 - 30 May 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2093
Abstract
This article develops a multi-perspective view on motivations and methods for tobamovirus purification through the ages and presents a novel, efficient, easy-to-use approach that can be well-adapted to different species of native and functionalized virions. We survey the various driving forces prompting researchers [...] Read more.
This article develops a multi-perspective view on motivations and methods for tobamovirus purification through the ages and presents a novel, efficient, easy-to-use approach that can be well-adapted to different species of native and functionalized virions. We survey the various driving forces prompting researchers to enrich tobamoviruses, from the search for the causative agents of mosaic diseases in plants to their increasing recognition as versatile nanocarriers in biomedical and engineering applications. The best practices and rarely applied options for the serial processing steps required for successful isolation of tobamoviruses are then reviewed. Adaptations for distinct particle species, pitfalls, and ‘forgotten’ or underrepresented technologies are considered as well. The article is topped off with our own development of a method for virion preparation, rooted in historical protocols. It combines selective re-solubilization of polyethylene glycol (PEG) virion raw precipitates with density step gradient centrifugation in biocompatible iodixanol formulations, yielding ready-to-use particle suspensions. This newly established protocol and some considerations for perhaps worthwhile further developments could serve as putative stepping stones towards preparation procedures appropriate for routine practical uses of these multivalent soft-matter nanorods. Full article
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Review

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35 pages, 2508 KiB  
Review
Tobacco Mosaic Virus Movement: From Capsid Disassembly to Transport Through Plasmodesmata
by Amr Ibrahim, Nobumitsu Sasaki, James E. Schoelz and Richard S. Nelson
Viruses 2025, 17(2), 214; https://doi.org/10.3390/v17020214 - 31 Jan 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1441
Abstract
Determining mechanisms to establish an initial infection and form intracellular complexes for accumulation and movement of RNA plant viruses are important areas of study in plant virology. The impact of these findings on the basic understanding of plant molecular virology and its application [...] Read more.
Determining mechanisms to establish an initial infection and form intracellular complexes for accumulation and movement of RNA plant viruses are important areas of study in plant virology. The impact of these findings on the basic understanding of plant molecular virology and its application in agriculture is significant. Studies with tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and related tobamoviruses often provide important foundational knowledge for studies involving other viruses. Topics discussed here include capsid disassembly, establishment of a virus replication complex (VRC), and transport of the VRCs or virus components within the cell to locations at the plasmodesmata for intercellular virus RNA (vRNA) movement. Seminal findings with TMV and related tobamoviruses include detecting co-translational disassembly of the vRNA from the virus rod, full sequencing of genomic vRNA and production of infectious transcript for genetic studies determining virus components necessary for intercellular movement, and biochemical and cell biological studies determining the host factors, protein and membrane, needed for replication and movement. This review highlights many of the studies through the years on TMV and selected tobamoviruses that have impacted not only our understanding of tobamovirus accumulation and movement but also that of other plant viruses. Full article
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28 pages, 1907 KiB  
Review
The Forgotten Tobamovirus Genes Encoding the 54 kDa Protein and the 4–6 kDa Proteins
by Peter Palukaitis, Masoud Akbarimotlagh, Sajad Astaraki, Masoud Shams-Bakhsh and Ju-Yeon Yoon
Viruses 2024, 16(11), 1680; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16111680 - 28 Oct 2024
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 1190
Abstract
This article reviews the literature concerning the largely forgotten tobamovirus gene products for which no functions have been ascribed. One of these gene products is the 54 kDa protein, representing the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase segment of the 183 kDa protein translated from the [...] Read more.
This article reviews the literature concerning the largely forgotten tobamovirus gene products for which no functions have been ascribed. One of these gene products is the 54 kDa protein, representing the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase segment of the 183 kDa protein translated from the I1-subgenomic mRNA, but which has been found only by in vitro translation and not in plants. The other is a collection of small proteins, expressed from alternative reading frames (likely from internal ribosome entry sites) in either or both the movement protein gene or the capsid protein gene. Previously, two small proteins were referred to as the 4–6 kDa proteins, since only single proteins of such size had been characterized from tobacco mosaic virus and tomato mosaic virus genomes. Such putative proteins will be referred to here as P6 proteins, since many new proposed P6 open reading frames could be discerned, from an analysis of 45 of 47 tobamovirus genomes, with a coding capacity of >15 amino acids up to 94 amino acids, whereas other peptides with ≤15 amino acids were not considered here. The distribution of the putative P6 proteins among these tobamoviruses is described, as well as the various classes they fall into, based on their distribution with regard to the organization of other genes in the viral genomes. Models also are presented for possible functions of the 54 kDa protein and the P6 proteins, based on data in the literature. Full article
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20 pages, 1082 KiB  
Review
Engineered Resistance to Tobamoviruses
by John Peter Carr
Viruses 2024, 16(7), 1007; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16071007 - 22 Jun 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3154
Abstract
Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was the first virus to be studied in detail and, for many years, TMV and other tobamoviruses, particularly tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and tobamoviruses infecting pepper (Capsicum spp.), were serious crop pathogens. By the end of the twentieth [...] Read more.
Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) was the first virus to be studied in detail and, for many years, TMV and other tobamoviruses, particularly tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and tobamoviruses infecting pepper (Capsicum spp.), were serious crop pathogens. By the end of the twentieth and for the first decade of the twenty-first century, tobamoviruses were under some degree of control due to introgression of resistance genes into commercial tomato and pepper lines. However, tobamoviruses remained important models for molecular biology, biotechnology and bio-nanotechnology. Recently, tobamoviruses have again become serious crop pathogens due to the advent of tomato brown rugose fruit virus, which overcomes tomato resistance against TMV and ToMV, and the slow but apparently inexorable worldwide spread of cucumber green mottle mosaic virus, which threatens all cucurbit crops. This review discusses a range of mainly molecular biology-based approaches for protecting crops against tobamoviruses. These include cross-protection (using mild tobamovirus strains to ‘immunize’ plants against severe strains), expressing viral gene products in transgenic plants to inhibit the viral infection cycle, inducing RNA silencing against tobamoviruses by expressing virus-derived RNA sequences in planta or by direct application of double-stranded RNA molecules to non-engineered plants, gene editing of host susceptibility factors, and the transfer and optimization of natural resistance genes. Full article
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16 pages, 835 KiB  
Review
Plant Immunity against Tobamoviruses
by Xiyin Zheng, Yiqing Li and Yule Liu
Viruses 2024, 16(4), 530; https://doi.org/10.3390/v16040530 - 29 Mar 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2797
Abstract
Tobamoviruses are a group of plant viruses that pose a significant threat to agricultural crops worldwide. In this review, we focus on plant immunity against tobamoviruses, including pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI), the RNA-targeting pathway, phytohormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and autophagy. [...] Read more.
Tobamoviruses are a group of plant viruses that pose a significant threat to agricultural crops worldwide. In this review, we focus on plant immunity against tobamoviruses, including pattern-triggered immunity (PTI), effector-triggered immunity (ETI), the RNA-targeting pathway, phytohormones, reactive oxygen species (ROS), and autophagy. Further, we highlight the genetic resources for resistance against tobamoviruses in plant breeding and discuss future directions on plant protection against tobamoviruses. Full article
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