In Vitro Evidence Supports Membrane Alanyl Aminopeptidase N as a Receptor for a Plant Virus in the Pea Aphid Vector.

UNLABELLED: Insect-borne plant viruses cause significant agricultural losses and jeopardize sustainable global food production. Although blocking plant virus transmission would allow for crop protection, virus receptors in insect vectors are unknown. Here we identify membrane alanyl aminopeptidase N (APN) as a receptor for pea enation mosaic virus (PEMV) coat protein (CP) in the gut of the pea aphid, Acyrthosiphon pisum, using a far-Western blot method. Pulldown and immunofluorescence binding assays and surface plasmon resonance were used to confirm and characterize CP-APN interaction. PEMV virions and a peptide comprised of PEMV CP fused to a proline-rich hinge (-P-) and green fluorescent protein (CP-P-GFP) specifically bound to APN. Recombinant APN expressed in Sf9 cells resulted in internalization of CP-P-GFP, which was visualized by confocal microscopy; such internalization is an expected hallmark of a functional gut receptor. Finally, in assays with aphid gut-derived brush border membrane vesicles, binding of CP-P-GFP competed with binding of GBP3.1, a peptide previously demonstrated to bind to APN in the aphid gut and to impede PEMV uptake into the hemocoel; this finding supports the hypothesis that GBP3.1 and PEMV bind to and compete for the same APN receptor. These in vitro data combined with previously published in vivo experiments (S. Liu, S. Sivakumar, W. O. Sparks, W. A. Miller, and B. C. Bonning, Virology 401:107-116, 2010, https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.virol.2010.02.009) support the identification of APN as the first receptor in a plant virus vector. Knowledge of this receptor will provide for technologies based on PEMV-APN interaction designed to block plant virus transmission and to suppress aphid populations.

IMPORTANCE: A significant proportion of global food production is lost to insect pests. Aphids, in addition to weakening plants by feeding on their sap, are responsible for transmitting about half of the plant viruses vectored by insects. Growers rely heavily on the application of chemical insecticides to manage both aphids and aphid-vectored plant viral disease. To increase our understanding of plant virus-aphid vector interaction, we provide in vitro evidence supporting earlier in vivo work for identification of a receptor protein in the aphid gut called aminopeptidase N, which is responsible for entry of the plant virus pea enation mosaic virus into the pea aphid vector. Enrichment of proteins found on the surface of the aphid gut epithelium resulted in identification of this first aphid gut receptor for a plant virus. This discovery is particularly important since the disruption of plant virus binding to such a receptor may enable the development of a nonchemical strategy for controlling aphid-vectored plant viruses to maximize food production.