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Updated: Jun 15, 2025

Direct Agroinoculation of Maize Seedlings by Injection with Recombinant Foxtail Mosaic Virus and Sugarcane Mosaic Virus Infectious Clones
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Maize splicing-mediated mRNA surveillance impeded by sugarcane mosaic virus-coded pathogenic protein NIa-Pro

Kaitong Du1, Dezhi Peng1, Jiqiu Wu1,2

  • 1State Key Laboratory of Maize Bio-breeding and Department of Plant Pathology, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100193, China.

Science Advances
|August 23, 2024
PubMed

Insights

The splicing factor U2AF65B is crucial for mRNA surveillance and plant immunity in maize. Sugarcane mosaic virus protease disrupts this process, enabling infection.

Area of Science:

  • Molecular Biology
  • Plant Pathology
  • RNA Biology

Background:

  • The eukaryotic mRNA surveillance pathway maintains mRNA quality and is vital for antiviral immunity.
  • Splicing factors influence mRNA fate, but their role in mRNA surveillance is not fully understood.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of the splicing factor U2AF65B in maize mRNA surveillance.
  • To determine how viral proteins interact with this pathway to facilitate infection.

Main Methods:

  • Investigated the function of ZmU2AF65B in splicing of ZmUPF3 pre-mRNA.
  • Analyzed the interaction between SCMV NIa-Pro and ZmU2AF65B.
  • Assessed the impact of NIa-Pro on ZmUPF3 splicing and mRNA surveillance.

Main Results:

  • ZmU2AF65B is essential for the normal splicing of ZmUPF3 pre-mRNA, a key component of mRNA surveillance.
  • SCMV NIa-Pro inhibits ZmU2AF65B's splicing activity.
  • NIa-Pro disrupts ZmU2AF65B binding to ZmUPF3 pre-mRNA, impairing mRNA surveillance and promoting viral infection.

Conclusions:

  • Splicing regulation by ZmU2AF65B is critical for maintaining mRNA surveillance and RNA immunity in maize.
  • SCMV NIa-Pro targets ZmU2AF65B to subvert mRNA surveillance, highlighting a novel viral strategy to evade host defenses.

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