Rice stripe virus activates the bZIP17/28 branch of the unfolded protein response signalling pathway to promote viral infection.

The unfolded protein response (UPR) plays important roles in plant virus infection. Our previous study has proved that rice stripe virus (RSV) infection elicits host UPR. However, the mechanism on how the UPR is triggered upon RSV infection remains obscure. Here, we show that the bZIP17/28 branch of the UPR signalling pathway is activated upon RSV infection in Nicotiana benthamiana. We found that membrane-associated proteins NSvc2 and NSvc4 encoded by RSV are responsible for the activation of the bZIP17/28 branch. Ectopic expression of NSvc2 or NSvc4 in plant leaves induced the proteolytic processing of NbbZIP17/28 and up-regulated the expression of UPR-related genes. Silencing NbbZIP17/28 significantly inhibited RSV infection. We show that RSV can specifically elicit the UPR through the bZIP17/28 branch, thus promoting virus infection of N. benthamiana plants.