Potato leafroll virus (PLRV), genus Polerovirus, family Luteoviridae, is transmitted by aphids in a persistent and circulative manner. Members of the family Luteoviridae associate with a GroEL homologue produced by the primary endosymbiont (Buchnera sp.) of aphids to avoid degradation in the hemolymph. Purified luteovirus particles contain two types of proteins: a major capsid protein (CP) of ~22 kDa and a minor capsid component of 54 kDa, which is a truncated form of a translation read-through protein of the CP gene termination codon. The read-through domain (RTD) contains determinants responsible for virus transmission. An infectious full-length cDNA clone of PLRV and a mutant devoid of the RTD were used to analyze the molecular interactions between this luteovirus and its aphid vector Myzus persicae. The PLRV mutant virions, lacking the entire RTD protein, were not transmissible by M. persicae and did not bind to Buchnera sp. GroEL. Furthermore, this mutant was less persistent in the aphid's hemolymph than in the wild type virus.
Luteoviridae; Myzus persicae; Polerovirus; read-through protein
