Searching for the missing links: Connecting polerovirus structural biology to function

Abstract

The genus Polerovirus contains numerous economically important pathogens of crop plants worldwide, with more species discovered every year. Although poleroviruses have been the subject of active research for decades, relatively little is known about the ways they interact with host plants on a direct, molecular level. Here, we expand on previous work probing polerovirus structural biology and host-virus interactions using Protein Interaction Reporter (PIR) technology, a type of cross-linking proteomics. We demonstrate for the first time that this technology can be successfully applied to Turnip yellows virus, a model polerovirus pathogen of brassicas; discover new interactions between polerovirus structural proteins and host proteins; and show through experiments in planta that PIR identifies biologically relevant interactions. These data provide not only proof-of-concept for PIR in plant virology, but also generate new insight about polerovirus biology that would have been prohibitively time- and resource-intensive to obtain by conventional means.