2022 journal article
Rapid Multilocus Adaptation of Clonal Cabbage Leaf Curl Virus Populations to Arabidopsis thaliana
PHYTOBIOMES JOURNAL, 6(3), 227–235.
author keywords: begomovirus mutation; genomics; molecular biology; plant pathology; rapid adaptation; virology; within-host population variability
doi.org (publisher)
UN Sustainable Development Goal Categories
2. Zero Hunger
(Web of Science)
13. Climate Action
(Web of Science)
Source: Web Of Science
Added: April 11, 2023
Cabbage leaf curl virus (CabLCV) has a bipartite single-stranded DNA genome and infects the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. CabLCV serves as a model for the genus Begomovirus, members of which cause tremendous crop losses worldwide. We have used CabLCV as a model for within-plant virus evolution by inoculating individual plants with infectious clones of either a wild-type or mutagenized version of the CabLCV genome. Consistent with previous reports, detrimental substitutions in the replication-associated ( Rep) gene were readily compensated for by direct reversion or alternative mutations. A surprising number of common mutations were detected elsewhere in both viral segments (DNA-A and DNA-B), indicating convergent evolution and suggesting that CabLCV may not be as well adapted to A. thaliana as commonly presumed. Consistent with this idea, a spontaneous coat protein variant consistently rose to high allele frequency in susceptible accession Columbia-0, at a higher rate than in hypersusceptible accession Sei-0. Numerous high-frequency mutations were also detected in a candidate Rep binding site in DNA-B. Our results reinforce the fact that spontaneous mutation of this type of virus occurs rapidly and can change the majority consensus sequence of a within-plant virus population in weeks.