Pierre Lefeuvre

Publications (25)90.8 Total impact

• Source

  Available from: Ed Rybicki

  Article: Recombination, decreased host specificity and increased mobility may have driven the emergence of maize streak virus as an agricultural pathogen.

  Arvind Varsani, Dionne N Shepherd, Adérito L Monjane, Betty E Owor, Julia B Erdmann, Edward P Rybicki, Michel Peterschmitt, Rob W Briddon, Peter G Markham, Sunday Oluwafemi, Oliver P Windram, Pierre Lefeuvre, Jean-Michel Lett, Darren P Martin
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  ABSTRACT: Maize streak virus (MSV; family Geminiviridae, genus Mastrevirus), the causal agent of maize streak disease, ranks amongst the most serious biological threats to food security in subSaharan Africa. Although five distinct MSV strains have been currently described, only one of these - MSV-A - causes severe disease in maize. Due primarily to their not being an obvious threat to agriculture, very little is known about the 'grass-adapted' MSV strains, MSV-B, -C, -D and -E. Since comparing the genetic diversities, geographical distributions and natural host ranges of MSV-A with the other MSV strains could provide valuable information on the epidemiology, evolution and emergence of MSV-A, we carried out a phylogeographical analysis of MSVs found in uncultivated indigenous African grasses. Amongst the 83 new MSV genomes presented here, we report the discovery of six new MSV strains (MSV-F to -K). The non-random recombination breakpoint distributions detectable with these and other available mastrevirus sequences partially mirror those seen in begomoviruses, implying that the forces shaping these breakpoint patterns have been largely conserved since the earliest geminivirus ancestors. We present evidence that the ancestor of all MSV-A variants was the recombinant progeny of ancestral MSV-B and MSV-G/-F variants. While it remains unknown whether recombination influenced the emergence of MSV-A in maize, our discovery that MSV-A variants may both move between and become established in different regions of Africa with greater ease, and infect more grass species than other MSV strains, goes some way towards explaining why MSV-A is such a successful maize pathogen.
  Journal of General Virology 10/2008; 89(Pt 9):2063-74. · 3.36 Impact Factor
• Article: A protocol for the rapid isolation of full geminivirus genomes from dried plant tissue.

  Dionne N Shepherd, Darren P Martin, Pierre Lefeuvre, Adérito L Monjane, Betty E Owor, Edward P Rybicki, Arvind Varsani
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  ABSTRACT: A high-throughput method of isolating and cloning geminivirus genomes from dried plant material, by combining an Extract-n-Amp-based DNA isolation technique with rolling circle amplification (RCA) of viral DNA, is presented. Using this method an attempt was made to isolate and clone full geminivirus genomes/genome components from 102 plant samples, including dried leaves stored at room temperature for between 6 months and 10 years, with an average hands-on-time to RCA-ready DNA of 15 min per 20 samples. While storage of dried leaves for up to 6 months did not appreciably decrease cloning success rates relative to those achieved with fresh samples, efficiency of the method decreased with increasing storage time. However, it was still possible to clone virus genomes from 47% of 10-year-old samples. To illustrate the utility of this simple method for high-throughput geminivirus diversity studies, six Maize streak virus genomes, an Abutilon mosaic virus DNA-B component and the DNA-A component of a previously unidentified New Word begomovirus species were fully sequenced. Genomic clones of the 69 other viruses were verified as such by end sequencing. This method should be extremely useful for the study of any circular DNA plant viruses with genome component lengths smaller than the maximum size amplifiable by RCA.
  Journal of Virological Methods 05/2008; 149(1):97-102. · 2.01 Impact Factor
• Article: Novel sugarcane streak and Sugarcane streak Réunion mastreviruses from southern Africa and La Réunion.

  Dionne N Shepherd, Arvind Varsani, Oliver P Windram, Pierre Lefeuvre, Adérito L Monjane, Betty E Owor, Darren P Martin
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  ABSTRACT: The sugarcane infecting streak viruses (SISVs) are mastreviruses (Family Geminiviridae) belonging to a group of "African streak viruses" (AfSVs) that includes the economically devastating Maize streak virus (MSV). Although there are three currently described SISV species (Sugarcane streak virus [SSV], Sugarcane streak Egypt virus [SSEV] and Sugarcane streak Réunion virus [SSRV]), only one strain variant has been fully sequenced for each of these species and as a result very little is known about the diversity and evolutionary origins of the SCISVs. Here we present annotated full genome sequences of four new SISV isolates, including a new strain of both SSRV and SSV, and one potentially new SISV species, sampled from wild grasses in La Réunion and Zimbabwe. For the first time, we report the finding of SSRV isolates in Zimbabwe and SSV isolates on the island of La Réunion. Phylogenetic and recombination analyses indicate continent-wide SSRV strain diversity and that our isolate potentially representing a new SISV species is a recombinant.
  Archives of Virology 02/2008; 153(3):605-9. · 2.11 Impact Factor
• Source

  Available from: Darren P Martin

  Article: Avoidance of protein fold disruption in natural virus recombinants.

  Pierre Lefeuvre, Jean-Michel Lett, Bernard Reynaud, Darren P Martin
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  ABSTRACT: With the development of reliable recombination detection tools and an increasing number of available genome sequences, many studies have reported evidence of recombination in a wide range of virus genera. Recombination is apparently a major mechanism in virus evolution, allowing viruses to evolve more quickly by providing immediate direct access to many more areas of a sequence space than are accessible by mutation alone. Recombination has been widely described amongst the insect-transmitted plant viruses in the genus Begomovirus (family Geminiviridae), with potential recombination hot- and cold-spots also having been identified. Nevertheless, because very little is understood about either the biochemical predispositions of different genomic regions to recombine or what makes some recombinants more viable than others, the sources of the evolutionary and biochemical forces shaping distinctive recombination patterns observed in nature remain obscure. Here we present a detailed analysis of unique recombination events detectable in the DNA-A and DNA-A-like genome components of bipartite and monopartite begomoviruses. We demonstrate both that recombination breakpoint hot- and cold-spots are conserved between the two groups of viruses, and that patterns of sequence exchange amongst the genomes are obviously non-random. Using a computational technique designed to predict structural perturbations in chimaeric proteins, we demonstrate that observed recombination events tend to be less disruptive than sets of simulated ones. Purifying selection acting against natural recombinants expressing improperly folded chimaeric proteins is therefore a major determinant of natural recombination patterns in begomoviruses.
  PLoS Pathogens 12/2007; 3(11):e181. · 9.13 Impact Factor
• Chapter: An insular environment before and after TYLCV introduction

  Hélène Delatte, Jean Lett, Pierre Lefeuvre, Bernard Reynaud, Michel Peterschmitt
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  ABSTRACT: Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV, genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviradae), vectored by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, is one of the tomato infecting viruses which is inducing the most obvious symptoms. The severe growth reduction of the plants and the typical yellowing and curling of the leaves due to TYLCV infection is easily detected by farmers, even not being familiar with those symptoms. Therefore, it is expected that the introduction of TYLCV in a new environment is detected soon after the first infection of tomato plants. This was the case in 1997, when TYLCV was detected for the first time in Reunion, an island of the Indian Ocean at about 700 km east of Madagascar (Peterschmitt et al., 1999). One more reason for which it is thought that the delay between introduction and detection was short is that the local Plant Protection Services were aware of the TYLCV risk. Subsequently to the first detection of TYLCV, the sampling of infected tomato plants and the collection of B. tabaci vectors over time gave us a unique opportunity to monitor the emergence and installation of a virus and its vector in an insular environment.
  12/2006: pages 13-23;