作者: | Qiangqiang Zhu, Ayaz Ahmad, Chunmei Shi, Qi Tang, Chunyan Liu, Bo Ouyang, Yingtian Deng, Feng Li, and Xiaofeng Cao |
---|---|
刊物名称: | Cell Host & Microbe |
DOI: | |
联系作者: | |
英文联系作者: | |
卷: | |
摘要: | Viral suppressor RNA silencing (VSR) is essential for successful infection. Nucleotide-binding and leucinerich repeat (NLR)-based and autophagy-mediated immune responses have been reported to target VSR as counter-defense strategies. Here, we report a protein arginine methyltransferase 6 (PRMT6)-mediated defense mechanism targeting VSR. The knockout and overexpression of PRMT6 in tomato plants lead to enhanced and reduced disease symptoms, respectively, during tomato bush stunt virus (TBSV) infection. PRMT6 interacts with and inhibits the VSR function of TBSV P19 by methylating its key arginine residues R43 and R115, thereby reducing its dimerization and small RNA-binding activities. Analysis of the natural tomato population reveals that two major alleles associated with high and low levels of PRMT6 expression are significantly associated with high and low levels of viral resistance, respectively. Our study establishes PRMT6-mediated arginine methylation of VSR as a mechanism of plant immunity against viruses. |