0000000000981998
AUTHOR
Lei Jiang
The ER-Membrane Transport System Is Critical for Intercellular Trafficking of the NSm Movement Protein and Tomato Spotted Wilt Tospovirus.
Plant viruses move through plasmodesmata to infect new cells. The plant endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is interconnected among cells via the ER desmotubule in the plasmodesma across the cell wall, forming a continuous ER network throughout the entire plant. This ER continuity is unique to plants and has been postulated to serve as a platform for the intercellular trafficking of macromolecules. In the present study, the contribution of the plant ER membrane transport system to the intercellular trafficking of the NSm movement protein and Tomato spotted wilt tospovirus (TSWV) is investigated. We showed that TSWV NSm is physically associated with the ER membrane in Nicotiana benthamiana plants. An…
Biosilica aging: From enzyme-driven gelation via syneresis to chemical/biochemical hardening
Abstract Background The distinguished property of the siliceous sponge spicules is their enzyme (silicatein)-catalyzed biosilica formation. The enzymatically formed, non-structured biosilica product undergoes a molding, syneresis, and hardening process to form the species-specifically shaped, hard structured skeletal spicules. Besides of silicatein, a silicatein-associated protein, silintaphin-2, is assumed to be involved in the process of biosilica formation in vivo. Methods Biosilica has been synthesized enzymatically and determined quantitatively. In addition, the subsequent hardening/aging steps have been followed by spectroscopic and electron microscopic analyses. Results The young spi…