Plasmodesmata (Pd) function as conduits for intercellular transport of key regulators of plant development and morphogenesis, ranging from transcription factors to mRNA and small RNA molecules. Furthermore, this macromolecular transport capacity of Pd is utilized by most plant viruses for their intercellular spread during infection; to move through Pd, plant viruses have evolved specialized proteins, termed movement proteins (MPs), that specifically target to Pd1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Molecular pathways of Pd transport most likely are intimately interconnected with the specific sequences that target the transported proteins into these pathways. Thus, identification of these Pd localization signals (PLSs) may be diagnostic of the corresponding Pd transport pathway. This is by analogy of Pd transport8, for example, to different nuclear import pathways, which can be specific for different nuclear localization signal (NLS) sequences9,10. Conceptually, both NLSs and PLSs represent non-cleavable subcellular targeting sequences that are necessary and sufficient for targeting. However, unlike NLSs11, the sequence information about PLSs is severely limited. Specifically, only four protein sequences involved in Pd targeting have been reported, with all of them derived from endogenous plant proteins. The first one is represented by a homeobox domain of KN112 – a transcription factor that moves from inner cell layers to epidermis of the plant leaf13 – and its KNOX homologs14. The second one also is from a transcription factor, Dof, which contains a putative PLS described as the intercellular trafficking (IT) motif15. The third sequence is from the PDLP1 plasmodesmata-resident type 1 membrane protein, and it is represented by a transmembrane domain16. Finally, the fourth Pd targeting sequence was recently reported for glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchored proteins and it is represented by the glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) modification signal17.
Interestingly, until very recently, no PLSs have been reported for viral MPs. Previous studies indicated the presence of putative PLS sequences in plant viral MPs18,19, but no true PLS, i.e., a minimal amino acid sequence both necessary and sufficient for Pd targeting of an unrelated cargo molecule (e.g., CFP) has been identified in a viral MP. Yet one of these proteins, MP of the Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), was the first for which Pd localization and transport have been demonstrated20.
To address this gap, we developed an experimental strategy to identify TMV MP PLS. This strategy was based on three concepts. (i) We defined PLS as a minimal amino acid sequence that is both necessary and sufficient for protein targeting to Pd21. (ii) Because TMV MP first targets Pd and then translocates through these channels22, we aimed at uncoupling these two activities and identifying the bona fide PLS, which functions only for Pd targeting, and not for the subsequent transport. (iii) We analyzed the identified PLS for amino acid residues important for its Pd targeting activity, whether structurally or functionally. Using this approach, we delineated a 50-amino acid residue sequence at the amino-terminus of TMV MP that acts as bona fide PLS. This was done by producing a series of TMV MP fragments that saturated the entire length of the protein, tagging their carboxyl-termini with CFP and transiently expressing them in plant tissues. Pd localization of each of the tested fragments was determined by coexpressing them with a Pd marker protein, PDCB1 (Pd callose binding protein 1)23. The smallest fragment that still localized to Pd, but did not traverse Pd, was considered to represent PLS. Finally, the PLS was alanine-scanned to determine the key amino acid residues required for its structure and/or function.
Whereas here we illustrate this approach by describing identification of TMV MP PLS, it may be employed to discover PLSs in any other Pd-targeted proteins, whether encoded by plant pathogens or by the plants themselves; this is because our method does not take advantage of any unique features of viral MPs with regards to their ability to target to Pd.