Publication Date

2016

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Bujarski, Jozef J.

Degree Name

M.S. (Master of Science)

Legacy Department

Department of Biological Sciences

LCSH

Beans--Diseases and pests; Plants--Diseases and pests; Plant viruses

Abstract

Encapsidation of the viral genome into capsid is a highly specific process. Despite the viral RNA specificity, evidence of the host cellular RNA co-encapsidation have been shown in some insect viruses like Flock house virus (FHV) and plant viruses like Cucumber necrotic virus (CNV). This study is dedicated to finding the similar evidence of host RNA encapsidation by the two members, BBMV and CCMV of the Bromovirus family -- model virus system. The Next Generation RNA sequencing (NGS RNA-seq) can be implemented to sequence the RNAs encapsidated by the highly purified virions. We mapped and aligned the reads obtained from sequencing to the viral references to filter out the co-encapsidated non-viral reads. These co-encapsidated non-viral reads are then classified into different categories on the basis of their origin from the host plants. BBMV and CCMV co-encapsidated 1.465% and 1.323% of the host RNAs respectively. Majorities of the host RNAs encapsidated are nuclear including ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs) and messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Among the co-encapsidated plant RNAs, 21.228% and 35.220% reads are from transposable elements (TEs) in BBMV and CCMV respectively, which make these virions a potential carrier for the horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in plants.

Comments

Advisors: Jozef Julian Bujarski.||Committee members: Melvin R. Duvall; Gabriel P. Holbrook.||Includes bibliographical references.||Includes illustrations.

Extent

vi, 73 pages

Language

eng

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

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