Hs. Padgett et al., IDENTIFICATION OF THE TMV REPLICASE SEQUENCE THAT ACTIVATES THE N GENE-MEDIATED HYPERSENSITIVE RESPONSE, Molecular plant-microbe interactions, 10(6), 1997, pp. 709-715
The N gene-mediated hypersensitive response (HR) in tobacco provides a
high degree of resistance against most tobamoviruses by halting the p
rogress of infection at the site of inoculation, A previous report ind
icated a role for the 126/183-kDa replicase in induction of the HR in
tobacco containing the N gene (H. S. Padgett and R. N. Beachy, Plant C
ell 5:577-586, 1993). Chimeric virus genomes were constructed in which
the genes encoding the 126/183-kDa proteins of the HR-eliciting patho
gen, tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), and the resistance breaking tobamovir
us, Ob, were exchanged, Inoculation of the chimeric viruses to leaves
of Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi NN confirmed that either the replicase
protein of TMV or its mRNA was responsible for induction of HR. An ex
pression vector based on the Ob virus was used to express fragments of
various replicase genes. With this approach, it was determined that t
he HR is caused by a portion of the replicase protein extending from a
mino acid 692 to 1116. Consistent with this result, Ob mutants that in
duce the HR on NN tobacco were found to carry mutations within the sam
e portion of the replicase gene. The N gene-mediated HR is inactive at
high temperatures, yet these mutants were able to overcome the HR at
significantly lower temperatures than could TMV, indicating that the t
emperature sensitivity of the N gene response is manifested at the lev
el of interaction between the virus and the defense response mechanism
.