Potyviruses differ in their requirement for TOR signalling

Potyviruses are important plant pathogens that rely on many plant cellular processes for successful infection. TOR (target of rapamycin) signalling is a key eukaryotic energy-signalling pathway controlling many cellular processes such as translation and autophagy. The dependence of potyviruses on active TOR signalling was examined. Arabidopsis lines downregulated for TOR by RNAi were challenged with the potyviruses watermelon mosaic virus (WMV) and turnip mosaic virus (TuMV). WMV accumulation was found to be severely altered while TuMV accumulation was only slightly delayed. In another approach, using AZD-8055, an active site inhibitor of the TOR kinase, WMV infection was found to be strongly affected. Moreover, AZD-8055 application can cure WMV infection. In contrast, TuMV infection was not affected by AZD-8055. This suggests that potyviruses have different cellular requirements for active plant TOR signalling.