Broad bean wilt virus 2 (BBWV2) is a species in the genus Fabavirus and family Secoviridae, which is transmitted by aphids and has a wide host range. The BBWV2 genome is composed of two single-stranded, positive-sense RNAs, RNA-1 and RNA-2. The representative symptoms of BBWV2 are mosaic, mottle, vein clearing, wilt, and stunting on leaves, and these symptoms cause economic damage to various crops. In 2019, Perilla fructescens leaves with mosaic and yellowing symptoms were found in Geumsan, South Korea. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RTPCR) was performed with specific primers for 10 reported viruses, including BBWV2, to identify the causal virus, and the results were positive for BBWV2. To characterize a BBWV2 isolate (BBWV2-GS-PF) from symptomatic P. fructescens, genetic analysis and pathogenicity tests were performed. The complete genomic sequences of RNA-1 and RNA-2 of BBWV2-GS-PF were phylogenetically distant to the previously reported BBWV2 isolates, with relatively low nucleotide sequence similarities of 76-80%. In the pathogenicity test, unlike most BBWV2 isolates with mild mosaic or mosaic symptoms in peppers, the BBWV2-GS-PF isolate showed typical ring spot symptoms. Considering these results, the BBWV2-GS-PF isolate from P. fructescens could be classified as a new strain of BBWV2.

Effector-triggered immunity (ETI) is an active immune response triggered by interactions between host resistance proteins and their cognate effectors. Although ETI is often associated with the hypersensitive response (HR), various R genes mediate an HR-independent process known as extreme resistance (ER). In the soybean-Soybean mosaic virus (SMV) pathosystem, the strain-specific CI protein of SMV functions as an effector of Rsv3-mediated ER. In this study, we used the soybean (Rsv3)-SMV (CI) pathosystem to gain insight into the molecular signaling pathway involved in ER. We used genome-wide transcriptome analysis to identify a subset of the type 2C protein phophatase (PP2C) genes that are specifically up-regulated in Rsv3-mediated ER. Gain-of-function analysis of the most significantly expressed soybean PP2C gene, GmPP2C3a, showed that ABA-induced GmPP2C3a functions as a key regulator of Rsv3-mediated ER. Our results further suggest that the primary mechanism of ER against viruses is the inhibition of viral cell-to-cell movement by callose deposition in an ABA signaling-dependent manner.

The Cmr1 gene in peppers confers resistance to Cucumber mosaic virus isolate-P0 (CMV-P0). Cmr1 restricts the systemic spread of CMV-Fny, whereas this gene cannot block the spread of CMV-P1 to the upper leaves, resulting in systemic infection. To identify the virulence determinant of CMV-P1, six reassortant viruses and six chimeric viruses derived from CMV-Fny and CMV-P1 cDNA clones were used. Our results demonstrate that the helicase domain encoded by CMV-P1 RNA1 determines susceptibility to systemic infection. To identify the key amino acids determining systemic infection with CMV-P1, we then constructed amino acid substitution mutants. Of the mutants tested, amino acid residues at positions 865, 896, 957, and 980 in the 1a protein sequence of CMV-P1 affected the systemic infection. Virus localization studies with CMV-GFP clones and in situ localization of virus RNA revealed that these four amino acid residues together form the movement determinant for CMV-P1 movement from the epidermal cell layer to mesophyll cell layers. Quantitative real-time PCR revealed that CMV-P1 and a chimeric virus with four amino acid residues of CMV-P1 accumulated more genomic RNA in inoculated leaves than did CMV-Fny, indicating that those four amino acids are also involved in virus replication. These results demonstrate that the helicase domain is responsible for systemic infection by controlling virus replication and cell-to-cell movement. Whereas four amino acids are responsible for acquiring virulence in CMV-Fny, six amino acid (positions at 865, 896, 901, 957, 980 and 993) substitutions in CMV-P1 were required for complete loss of virulence in ‘Bukang’.