A Single Amino Acid Substitution in the Virus-Encoded Replicase of Tomato Mosaic Tobamovirus Alters Host Specificity

November 1997, Volume 10, Number 8
Pages 1,015 - 1,018

Hiroshi Hamamoto , ¹ Yuichiro Watanabe , ² Hiroshi Kamada , ¹ and Yoshimi Okada ²

¹Gene Experiment Center, University of Tsukuba, Ten-noh Dai 1-1-1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305; ²Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Teikyo University, Toyosatodai 1-1, Utsunomiya, To-chigi 320, Japan

Go to article:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1094/MPMI.1997.10.8.1015

Accepted 16 July 1997.

Introduction of a single amino acid substitution (Gln979 to Ile) into the 130- and 180-kDa proteins of tomato mosaic tobamovirus (ToMV) rendered the mutant virtually unable to replicate in tomato cells while it replicated perfectly in tobacco cells. The mechanism of this change in host specificity is discussed.