Optimal systemic grapevine fanleaf virus infection in Nicotiana benthamiana following agroinoculation

One of the greatest hindrances to the study of grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV) is the dearth of robust protocols for reliable, scalable, and cost-effective inoculation of host plants, especially methods which allow for rapid and targeted manipulation of the virus genome. Agroinoculation fulfills these requirements: it is a relatively rapid, inexpensive, and reliable method for establishing infections, and enables genetic manipulation of viral sequences by modifying plasmids. We designed a system of binary plasmids based on the two genomic RNAs [RNA1 (1) and RNA2 (2)] of GFLV strains F13 (F) and GHu (G) and optimized parameters to maximize systemic infection frequency in Nicotiana benthamiana via agroinoculation. The genomic make-up of the inoculum (G1-G2 and reassortant F1-G2), the identity of the co-infiltrated silencing suppressor (grapevine leafroll associated virus 2 p24), and temperature at which plants were maintained (25 °C) significantly increased systemic infection, while high optical densities of infiltration cultures (OD_600nm of 1.0 or 2.0) increased the consistency of systemic infection frequency in N. benthamiana. In contrast, acetosyringone in the bacterial culture media, regardless of concentration, had no effect. Plasmids in this system are amenable to rapid and reliable manipulation by one-step site-directed mutagenesis, as shown by the creation of infectious RNA1 chimeras of the GFLV-F13 and GHu strains. The GFLV agroinoculation plasmids described here, together with the optimized protocol for bacterial culturing and plant maintenance, provide a robust system for the establishment of systemic GFLV infection in N. benthamiana and the rapid generation of GFLV mutants, granting a much-needed tool for investigations into GFLV-host interactions.