Expression of ORF-69 of turnip yellow mosaic virus is necessary for viral spread in plants.

Turnip yellow mosaic virus (TYMV) RNA has two extensively overlapping open reading frames (ORFs) encoding noncapsid proteins. The longest of these, ORF-206, is essential for RNA replication. We have investigated the expression and role of ORF-69 (encoding a protein with a MW of 69K) using specific antiserum and mutant genomic RNAs designed to interrupt ORF-69 expression. TYC69 antiserum immunoprecipitated a protein with an apparent MW of 75K (p69) from in vitro translations of TYMV RNA. Mutant RNAs with stop codons inserted at nucleotides 139, 178, and 178/224 in ORF-69 expressed ORF-69 at very low levels in vitro. These mutants replicated to wild-type levels in turnip or Chinese cabbage protoplasts, but were not recovered from any leaves of inoculated plants. These results suggest that ORF-69 products are dispensible for replication, but are required for viral spread. Revertant and pseudorevertant viruses with uninterrupted ORF-69 were recovered from plants showing delayed onset of symptoms after inoculation with two of the above mutants, indicating the importance of ORF-69 expression in establishing a systemic infection in plants. ORF-69 expression could be detected using Western blots in extracts from young, symptomatic leaves of infected plants. A single band with an apparent MW of 75-80K was detected in leaves infected with cDNA-derived viral RNAs, while a doublet was detected after infection with type strain viral RNA, suggesting the presence of two ORF-69 alleles or differential post-translational modification.