Leek Yellow Stripe Virus Can Adjust for Host Adaptation by Trimming the N-Terminal Domain to Allow the P1 Protein to Function as an RNA Silencing Suppressor.

In Japan, the P1 protein (S-type) encoded by leek yellow stripe virus (LYSV) isolates detected in Honshu and southward is shorter than the P1 (N-type) of LYSV isolates from garlic grown in Hokkaido due to a large deletion in the N-terminal half. In garlic fields in Hokkaido, two types of LYSV isolate with N- and S-type P1s are sometimes found in mixed infections. In this study, we confirmed that N- and S-type P1 sequences were present in the same plant and that they belong to different evolutionary phylogenetic groups. To investigate how LYSV with S-type P1 (LYSV-S) could have invaded LYSV with N-type P1 (LYSV-N)-infected garlic, we examined wild Allium spp. plants in Hokkaido and found that LYSV was almost undetectable. On the other hand, in Honshu, LYSV-S was detected at a high frequency in Allium spp. other than garlic, suggesting that the LYSV-S can infect a wider host range of Allium spp. compared to LYSV-N. Because P1 proteins of potyviruses have been reported to promote RNA silencing suppressor (RSS) activity of HC-Pro proteins, we analyzed whether the same was true for P1 of LYSV. In onion, contrary to expectation, the P1 protein itself had RSS activity. Moreover, the RSS activity of S-type P1 was considerably stronger than that of N-type P1, suggesting that LYSV P1 may be able to enhance its RSS activity when the deletion is in the N-terminal half and that acquiring S-type P1 may have enabled LYSV to expand its host range.