The presence of high-molecular-weight viral RNAs interferes with the detection of viral small RNAs

G-U base-paired hpRNA confers potent inhibition of small RNA function in plants

MicroRNA (miRNA) target mimicry technologies, utilizing naturally occurring miRNA decoy molecules, represent a potent tool for analyzing miRNA function. In this study, we present a highly efficient small RNA (sRNA) target mimicry design based on G-U base-paired hairpin RNA (hpG:U), which allows for the simultaneous targeting of multiple sRNAs. The hpG:U constructs consistently generate high amounts of intact, polyadenylated stem-loop (SL) RNA outside the nuclei, in contrast to traditional hairpin RNA designs with canonical base pairing (hpWT), which were predominantly processed resulting in a loop. By incorporating a 460-bp G-U base-paired double-stranded stem and a 312-576 nt loop carrying multiple miRNA target mimicry sites (GUMIC), the hpG:U construct displayed effective repression of three Arabidopsis miRNAs, namely miR165/166, miR157, and miR160, both individually and in combination. Additionally, a GUMIC construct targeting a prominent cluster of siRNAs derived from cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) Y-satellite RNA (Y-Sat) effectively inhibited Y-Sat siRNA-directed silencing of the chlorophyll biosynthetic gene CHLI, thereby reducing the yellowing symptoms in infected Nicotiana plants. Therefore, the G-U base-paired hpRNA, characterized by differential processing compared to traditional hpRNA, acts as an efficient decoy for both miRNAs and siRNAs. This technology holds great potential for sRNA functional analysis and the management of sRNA-mediated diseases.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus intergenic siRNAs target a host long noncoding RNA to modulate disease symptoms

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) and its related begomoviruses cause fast-spreading diseases in tomato worldwide. How this virus induces diseases remains largely unclear. Here we report a noncoding RNA-mediated model to elucidate the molecular mechanisms of TYLCV-tomato interaction and disease development. The circular ssDNA genome of TYLCV contains a noncoding intergenic region (IR), which is known to mediate viral DNA replication and transcription in host cells, but has not been reported to contribute directly to viral disease development. We demonstrate that the IR is transcribed in dual orientations during plant infection and confers abnormal phenotypes in tomato independently of protein-coding regions of the viral genome. We show that the IR sequence has a 25-nt segment that is almost perfectly complementary to a long noncoding RNA (lncRNA, designated as SlLNR1) in TYLCV-susceptible tomato cultivars but not in resistant cultivars which contains a 14-nt deletion in the 25-nt region. Consequently, we show that viral small-interfering RNAs (vsRNAs) derived from the 25-nt IR sequence induces silencing of SlLNR1 in susceptible tomato plants but not resistant plants, and this SlLNR1 downregulation is associated with stunted and curled leaf phenotypes reminiscent of TYLCV symptoms. These results suggest that the lncRNA interacts with the IR-derived vsRNAs to control disease development during TYLCV infection. Consistent with its possible function in virus disease development, over-expression of SlLNR1 in tomato reduces the accumulation of TYLCV. Furthermore, gene silencing of the SlLNR1 in the tomato plants induced TYLCV-like leaf phenotypes without viral infection. Our results uncover a previously unknown interaction between vsRNAs and host lncRNA, and provide a plausible model for TYLCV-induced diseases and host antiviral immunity, which would help to develop effective strategies for the control of this important viral pathogen.

Revisiting the Roles of Tobamovirus Replicase Complex Proteins in Viral Replication and Silencing Suppression

Tobamoviral replicase possesses an RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDR) domain and is translated from genomic (g)RNA via a stop codon readthrough mechanism at a one-to-ten ratio relative to a shorter protein lacking the RDR domain. The two proteins share methyltransferase and helicase domains and form a heterodimer implicated in gRNA replication. The shorter protein is also implicated in suppressing RNA silencing-based antiviral defenses. Using a stop codon mutant of Oilseed rape mosaic tobamovirus (ORMV), we demonstrate that the readthrough replicase (p182) is sufficient for gRNA replication and for subgenomic RNA transcription during systemic infection in Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana. However, the mutant virus displays milder symptoms and does not interfere with HEN1-mediated methylation of viral short interfering (si)RNAs or plant small (s)RNAs. The mutant virus tends to revert the stop codon, thereby restoring expression of the shorter protein (p125), even in the absence of plant Dicer-like activities that generate viral siRNAs. Plant RDR activities that generate endogenous siRNA precursors do not prevent replication or movement of the mutant virus, and double-stranded precursors of viral siRNAs representing the entire virus genome are likely synthesized by p182. Transgenic expression of p125 partially recapitulates the ORMV disease symptoms associated with overaccumulation of plant sRNAs. Taken together, the readthrough replicase p182 is sufficient for viral replication and transcription but not for silencing suppression. By contrast, the shorter p125 protein suppresses silencing, provokes severe disease symptoms, causes overaccumulation of unmethylated viral and plant sRNAs but it is not an essential component of the viral replicase complex.

Improved Denaturation of Small RNA Duplexes and Its Application for Northern Blotting

Small RNAs (sRNAs) are short (18-30 nucleotide) noncoding RNA molecules, which control gene expression and pathogen response in eukaryotes. They are associated with and guide nucleases to target nucleic acids by nucleotide base pairing. We found that current techniques for small RNA detection are adversely affected by the presence of complementary RNA. Thus we established FDF-PAGE (fully denaturing formaldehyde polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis), which dramatically improves denaturation efficiency and subsequently the detection of sequestered sRNAs.

Characterization of small interfering RNAs derived from Rice black streaked dwarf virus in infected maize plants by deep sequencing

Rice black streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) is the casual agent of maize rough dwarf disease, which frequently causes severe yield loss in China. However, the interaction between RBSDV and maize plants is largely unknown. RNA silencing is a conserved mechanism against viruses in plants. To understand the antiviral RNA interfering response in RBSDV-infected plants, the profile of virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) from RBSDV in infected maize plants was obtained by deep sequencing in this study. Our data showed that vsiRNAs, accumulated preferentially as 21- and 22-nucleotide (nt) species, were mapped against all 10 genomic RNA segments of RBSDV and derived almost equally overall from both positive and negative strands, while there were significant differences in the accumulation level of vsiRNAs from segments 2, 4, 6, 7 and 10. The vsiRNAs (21 and 22 nt) generated from each segment of RBSDV genome had a 5'-terminal nucleotide bias toward adenine and uracil. The single-nucleotide resolution maps showed that RBSDV-derived siRNAs preferentially distributed in the 5'- or 3'-terminal regions of several genomic segments. In addition, our results showed that the mRNA levels of some components involved in antiviral RNA silencing pathway were differentially modified during RBSDV infection. Among them, the accumulation levels of ZmDCL1, ZmDCL2, ZmDCL3a, ZmAGO1a, ZmAGO1b, ZmAGO2a, ZmAGO18a and ZmRDR6 mRNAs were significantly up-regulated, while those of ZmDCL3b, ZmDCL4 and ZmAGO1c mRNAs showed no obvious changes in RBSDV-infected maize plants.

The Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Genome Is Processed Differentially in its Plant Host Arachis hypogaea and its Thrips Vector Frankliniella fusca

Thrips-transmitted tospoviruses are economically important viruses affecting a wide range of field and horticultural crops worldwide. Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) is the type member of the Tospovirus genus with a broad host range of more than 900 plant species. Interactions between these viruses and their plant hosts and insect vectors via RNAi pathways are likely a key determinant of pathogenicity. The current investigation, for the first time, compares biogenesis of small RNAs between the plant host and insect vector in the presence or absence of TSWV. Unique viral small interfering RNA (vsiRNA) profiles are evident for Arachis hypogaea (peanut) and Frankliniella fusca (thrips vector) following infection with TSWV. Differences between vsiRNA profiles for these plant and insect species, such as the relative abundance of 21 and 22 nt vsiRNAs and locations of alignment hotspots, reflect the diverse siRNA biosynthesis pathways of their respective kingdoms. The presence of unique vsiRNAs in F. fusca samples indicates that vsiRNA generation takes place within the thrips, and not solely through uptake via feeding on vsiRNAs produced in infected A. hypogaea. The study also shows key vsiRNA profile differences for TSWV among plant families, which are evident in the case of A. hypogaea, a legume, and members of Solanaceae (S. lycopersicum and Nicotiana benthamiana). Distinctively, overall small RNA (sRNA) biogenesis in A. hypogaea is markedly affected with an absence of the 24 nt sRNAs in TSWV-infected plants, possibly leading to wide-spread molecular and phenotypic perturbations specific to this species. These findings add significant information on the host-virus-vector interaction in terms of RNAi pathways and may lead to better crop and vector specific control strategies.

Synergistic infection of two viruses MCMV and SCMV increases the accumulations of both MCMV and MCMV-derived siRNAs in maize

The co-infection of Maize chlorotic mottle virus (MCMV) and Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) can cause maize lethal necrosis. However, the mechanism underlying the synergistic interaction between these two viruses remains elusive. In this study, we found that the co-infection of MCMV and SCMV increased the accumulation of MCMV. Moreover, the profiles of virus-derived siRNAs (vsiRNAs) from MCMV and SCMV in single- and co-infected maize plants were obtained by high-throughput sequencing. Our data showed that synergistic infection of MCMV and SCMV increased remarkably the accumulation of vsiRNAs from MCMV, which were mainly 22 and 21 nucleotides in length. The single-nucleotide resolution maps of vsiRNAs revealed that vsiRNAs were almost continuously but heterogeneously distributed throughout MCMV and SCMV genomic RNAs, respectively. Moreover, we predicted and annotated dozens of host transcript genes targeted by vsiRNAs. Our results also showed that maize DCLs and several AGOs RNAs were differentially accumulated in maize plants with different treatments (mock, single or double inoculations), which were associated with the accumulation of vsiRNAs. Our findings suggested possible roles of vsiRNAs in the synergistic interaction of MCMV and SCMV in maize plants.

Satellite RNA pathogens of plants: impacts and origins-an RNA silencing perspective

Viral satellite RNAs (satRNAs) are among the smallest RNA pathogens in plants. They have little or no protein-coding capacity but can have a major impact on the host plants through trilateral interactions with helper viruses and host plants. Studies around the 1980s revealed much of what we know about satRNAs: they can affect helper virus accumulation, modulate helper virus-induced disease symptoms, and induce their own symptoms with the assistance of helper viruses which depend on specific nucleotide sequences of their genome and host species. The molecular basis of these satRNA-caused impacts and the origin of satRNAs have yet to be fully understood and revealed, but recent understanding of the antiviral RNA silencing pathways and advancement in RNA and DNA sequencing technologies have provided new avenues and opportunities to examine these unanswered questions. These RNA silencing-based studies have revealed the existence of cross silencing between some satRNAs and helper viruses, the downregulation of helper virus-encoded suppressor (VSR) of RNA silencing or inhibition/enhancement of VSR activity by satRNAs, the silencing of host-encoded genes by satRNA-derived small interfering RNA (siRNAs), and the presence of satRNA-like small RNAs in uninfected host plants. These findings have provided alternative RNA silencing-based models to explain the pathogenicity and origin of satRNAs. WIREs RNA 2016, 7:5-16. doi: 10.1002/wrna.1311 For further resources related to this article, please visit the WIREs website.

FDF-PAGE: a powerful technique revealing previously undetected small RNAs sequestered by complementary transcripts

Small RNAs, between 18nt and 30nt in length, are a diverse class of non-coding RNAs that mediate a range of cellular processes, from gene regulation to pathogen defense. They guide ribonucleoprotein complexes to their target nucleic acids by Watson-Crick base pairing. We report here that current techniques for small RNA detection and library generation are biased by formation of RNA duplexes. To address this problem, we established FDF-PAGE (fully-denaturing formaldehyde polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis) to prevent annealing of sRNAs to their complement. By applying FDF-PAGE, we provide evidence that both strands of viral small RNA are present in near equimolar ratios, indicating that the predominant precursor is a long double-stranded RNA. Comparing non-denaturing conditions to FDF-PAGE uncovered extensive sequestration of miRNAs in model organisms and allowed us to identify candidate small RNAs under the control of competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNAs). By revealing the full repertoire of small RNAs, we can begin to create a better understanding of small RNA mediated interactions.

Cloning and profiling of small RNAs from cucumber mosaic virus satellite RNA

RNA silencing is not only a gene regulation mechanism that is conserved in a broad range of eukaryotes but also an adaptive immune response against foreign nucleic acids including viruses in plants. A major feature of RNA silencing is the production of small RNA (sRNA) of 21-24 nucleotides (nt) in length from double-stranded (ds) or hairpin-like (hp) RNA by Dicer-like (DCL) proteins. These sRNAs guide the binding and cleavage of cognate single-stranded (ss) RNA by an RNA silencing complex. Like all plant viruses and subviral agents, replication of viral satellite RNAs (satRNAs) is associated with the accumulation of 21-24 nt viral small interfering RNA (vsiRNA) derived from the whole region of a satRNA genome in both plus and minus-strand polarities. These satRNA-derived siRNAs (satsiRNAs) have recently been shown to play an important role in the trilateral interactions among host plants, helper viruses and satRNAs. Here, we describe the cloning and profile analysis of satsiRNAs from satRNAs of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). We also describe a method to minimize the strand bias that often occurs during vsiRNA cloning and sequencing.

In Nicotiana species, an artificial microRNA corresponding to the virulence modulating region of Potato spindle tuber viroid directs RNA silencing of a soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase gene and the development of abnormal phenotypes

Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) is a small non-protein-coding RNA pathogen that can induce disease symptoms in a variety of plant species. How PSTVd induces disease symptoms is a long standing question. It has been suggested that PSTVd-derived small RNAs (sRNAs) could direct RNA silencing of a targeted host gene(s) resulting in symptom development. To test this, we expressed PSTVd sequences as artificial microRNAs (amiRNAs) in Nicotiana tabacum and Nicotiana benthamiana. One amiRNA, amiR46 that corresponds to sequences within the PSTVd virulence modulating region (VMR), induced abnormal phenotypes in both Nicotiana species that closely resemble those displayed by PSTVd infected plants. In N. tabacum amiR46 plants, phenotype severity correlated with amiR46 accumulation and expression down-regulation of the bioinformatically-identified target gene, a Nicotiana soluble inorganic pyrophosphatase (siPPase). Taken together, our phenotypic and molecular analyses suggest that disease symptom development in Nicotiana species following PSTVd infection results from sRNA-directed RNA silencing of the host gene, siPPase.

In silico reconstruction of viral genomes from small RNAs improves virus-derived small interfering RNA profiling

RNA interference (RNAi) is the essential component of antiviral immunity in invertebrates and plants. One of the landmarks of the antiviral RNAi response is the production of virus-derived small interfering RNA (vsiRNA) from viral double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). vsiRNAs constitute a fragmented image of the viral genome sequence that results from Dicer cleavage. vsiRNA sequence profiling is used extensively as a surrogate to study the antiviral RNAi response by determining the nature of the viral dsRNA molecules exposed to and processed by the RNAi machinery. The accuracy of these profiles depends on the actual viral genome sequence used as a reference to align vsiRNA reads, and the interpretation of inaccurate profiles can be misleading. Using Flock house virus and Drosophila melanogaster as a model RNAi-competent organism, we show accurate reconstruction of full-length virus reference sequence from vsiRNAs and prediction of the structure of defective interfering particles (DIs). We developed a Perl script, named Paparazzi, that reconstitutes viral genomes through an iterative alignment/consensus call procedure using a related reference sequence as scaffold. As prevalent DI-derived reads introduce artifacts during reconstruction, Paparazzi eliminates DI-specific reads to improve the quality of the reconstructed genome. Paparazzi constitutes a promising alternative to Sanger sequencing in this context and an effective tool to study antiviral RNAi mechanisms by accurately quantifying vsiRNA along the replicating viral genome. We further discuss Paparazzi as a companion tool for virus discovery as it provides full-length genome sequences and corrects for potential artifacts of assembly.

Viral small interfering RNAs target host genes to mediate disease symptoms in plants

The Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) Y-satellite RNA (Y-Sat) has a small non-protein-coding RNA genome that induces yellowing symptoms in infected Nicotiana tabacum (tobacco). How this RNA pathogen induces such symptoms has been a longstanding question. We show that the yellowing symptoms are a result of small interfering RNA (siRNA)-directed RNA silencing of the chlorophyll biosynthetic gene, CHLI. The CHLI mRNA contains a 22-nucleotide (nt) complementary sequence to the Y-Sat genome, and in Y-Sat-infected plants, CHLI expression is dramatically down-regulated. Small RNA sequencing and 5' RACE analyses confirmed that this 22-nt sequence was targeted for mRNA cleavage by Y-Sat-derived siRNAs. Transformation of tobacco with a RNA interference (RNAi) vector targeting CHLI induced Y-Sat-like symptoms. In addition, the symptoms of Y-Sat infection can be completely prevented by transforming tobacco with a silencing-resistant variant of the CHLI gene. These results suggest that siRNA-directed silencing of CHLI is solely responsible for the Y-Sat-induced symptoms. Furthermore, we demonstrate that two Nicotiana species, which do not develop yellowing symptoms upon Y-Sat infection, contain a single nucleotide polymorphism within the siRNA-targeted CHLI sequence. This suggests that the previously observed species specificity of Y-Sat-induced symptoms is due to natural sequence variation in the CHLI gene, preventing CHLI silencing in species with a mismatch to the Y-Sat siRNA. Taken together, these findings provide the first demonstration of small RNA-mediated viral disease symptom production and offer an explanation of the species specificity of the viral disease.

Citrus tristeza virus infection induces the accumulation of viral small RNAs (21-24-nt) mapping preferentially at the 3'-terminal region of the genomic RNA and affects the host small RNA profile

To get an insight into the host RNA silencing defense induced by Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) and into the counter defensive reaction mediated by its three silencing suppressors (p25, p20 and p23), we have examined by deep sequencing (Solexa-Illumina) the small RNAs (sRNAs) in three virus-host combinations. Our data show that CTV sRNAs: (i) represent more than 50% of the total sRNAs in Mexican lime and sweet orange (where CTV reaches relatively high titers), but only 3.5% in sour orange (where the CTV titer is significantly lower), (ii) are predominantly of 21-22-nt, with a biased distribution of their 5' nucleotide and with those of (+) polarity accumulating in a moderate excess, and (iii) derive from essentially all the CTV genome (ca. 20 kb), as revealed by its complete reconstruction from viral sRNA contigs, but adopt an asymmetric distribution with a prominent hotspot covering approximately the 3'-terminal 2,500 nt. These results suggest that the citrus homologues of Dicer-like (DCL) 4 and 2 most likely mediate the genesis of the 21 and 22 nt CTV sRNAs, respectively, and show that both ribonucleases act not only on the genomic RNA but also on the 3' co-terminal subgenomic RNAs and, particularly, on their double-stranded forms. The plant sRNA profile, very similar and dominated by the 24-nt sRNAs in the three mock-inoculated controls, was minimally affected by CTV infection in sour orange, but exhibited a significant reduction of the 24-nt sRNAs in Mexican lime and sweet orange. We have also identified novel citrus miRNAs and determined how CTV influences their accumulation.

Alternate approaches to repress endogenous microRNA activity in Arabidopsis thaliana

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are an endogenous class of regulatory small RNA (sRNA). In plants, miRNAs are processed from short non-protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs) transcribed from small miRNA genes (MIR genes). Traditionally in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana (Arabidopsis), the functional analysis of a gene product has relied on the identification of a corresponding T-DNA insertion knockout mutant from a large, randomly-mutagenized population. However, because of the small size of MIR genes and presence of multiple, highly conserved members in most plant miRNA families, it has been extremely laborious and time consuming to obtain a corresponding single, or multiple, null mutant plant line. Our recent study published in Molecular Plant ( 1) outlines an alternate method for the functional characterization of miRNA action in Arabidopsis, termed anti-miRNA technology. Using this approach we demonstrated that the expression of individual miRNAs, or entire miRNA families, can be readily and efficiently knocked-down. Our approach is in addition to two previously reported methodologies that also allow for the targeted suppression of either individual miRNAs, or all members of a MIR gene family; these include miRNA target mimicry and transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) of MIR gene promoters. All three methodologies rely on endogenous gene regulatory machinery and in this article we provide an overview of these technologies and discuss their strengths and weaknesses in inhibiting the activity of their targeted miRNA(s).