Tandem leader proteases of Grapevine leafroll-associated virus-2: Host-specific functions in the infection cycle

Several viruses in the genus Closterovirus including Grapevine leafroll-associated virus-2 (GLRaV-2), encode a tandem of papain-like leader proteases (L1 and L2) whose functional profiles remained largely uncharacterized. We generated a series of the full-length, reporter-tagged, clones of GLRaV-2 and demonstrated that they are systemically infectious upon agroinfection of an experimental host plant Nicotiana benthamiana. These clones and corresponding minireplicon derivatives were used to address L1 and L2 functions in GLRaV-2 infection cycle. It was found that the deletion of genome region encoding the entire L1–L2 tandem resulted in a ~ 100-fold reduction in minireplicon RNA accumulation. Five-fold reduction in RNA level was observed upon deletion of L1 coding region. In contrast, deletion of L2 coding region did not affect RNA accumulation. It was also found that the autocatalytic cleavage by L2 but not by L1 is essential for genome replication. Analysis of the corresponding mutants in the context of N. benthamiana infection launched by the full-length GLRaV-2 clone revealed that L1 or its coding region is essential for virus ability to establish infection, while L2 plays an accessory role in the viral systemic transport. Strikingly, when tagged minireplicon variants were used for the leaf agroinfiltration of the GLRaV-2 natural host, Vitis vinifera, deletion of either L1 or L2 resulted in a dramatic reduction of minireplicon ability to establish infection attesting to a host-specific requirement for tandem proteases in the virus infection cycle.