Multiple-level regulation of a plant sterol methyltransferase during rice stripe virus infection.

Authors

Yu Liu, Yaqin Wang, Chenyang Li, Xiuling Yang, Jianxiang Wu, Xueping Zhou

Published in

Plant communications. Pages 101979. Jul 03, 2026. Epub Jul 03, 2026.

Abstract

The plant sterol biosynthesis pathway is essential for the normal growth and development of plants, yet its relationship with plant virus infections remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the regulation of sterol methyltransferase 2 (SMT2), a key component of the plant sterol synthesis pathway, during rice stripe virus (RSV) infection. Our findings demonstrate that Nicotiana benthamiana SMT2 (NbSMT2) was regulated transcriptionally during RSV infection. Together with other sterol synthesis pathway proteins, namely sterol 4α-methyl oxidase 2 (SMO2) and sterol Δ(7)-reductase (DWF5), NbSMT2 acted as a positive regulator of RSV intercellular movement protein pc4 and facilitated virus movement. However, in response to RSV infection, NbSMT2 was polyubiquitinated and degraded through the ubiquitin-26S proteasome pathway mediated by the accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), which conferred resistance to RSV. Additionally, NbSMT2 protein formed intercellular disulfide bonds to prevent complete degradation and maintain its protein pool. This study indicates that N. benthamiana appears to balance normal growth and development with antiviral through multiple regulatory mechanisms targeting NbSMT2.

PMID:
42400157
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 04 Jul 2026.

Read full publication at:
Please sign in to see all details.

Stats

1-terrible, 9-excellent. How would you rate this publication? Sign in in to submit your rating.

Post a comment

You need to be signed in to post comments. You can sign in here.

Comments

There are no comments yet.