Effects of the Number of Genome Segments on Primary and Systemic Infections with a Multipartite Plant RNA Virus

Multipartite plant viruses were discovered because of discrepancies between the observed dose response and predictions of the independent-action hypothesis (IAH) model. Theory suggests that the number of genome segments predicts the shape of the dose-response curve, but a rigorous test of this hypothesis has not been reported. Here, Alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), a tripartite Alfamovirus, and transgenic Nicotiana tabacum plants expressing no (wild type), one (P2), or two (P12) viral genome segments were used to test whether the number of genome segments necessary for infection predicts the dose re-sponse. The dose-response curve of wild-type plants was steep and congruent with the predicted kinetics of a multipartite virus, confirming previous results. Moreover, for P12 plants, the data support the IAH model, showing that the expression of virus genome segments by the host plant can modulate the infection kinetics of a tripartite virus to those of a monopar-tite virus. However, the different types of virus particles occurred at different frequencies, with a ratio of 116:45:1 (RNA1 to RNA2 to RNA3), which will affect infection kinetics and required analysis with a more comprehensive infection model. This analysis showed that each type of virus particle has a different probability of invading the host plant, at both the pri-mary- and systemic-infection levels. While the number of genome segments affects the dose response, taking into consid-eration differences in the infection kinetics of the three types of AMV particles results in a better understanding of the in-fection process. There is great variation in the architecture of the genomebetween viruses; the nucleic acid used, its polarity in th