Identification of plant virus movement-host protein interactions.

After the discovery of 'movement proteins' as a peculiarity of plant viruses and with the help of novel methods for the detection and isolation of interacting host proteins new insights have been obtained to understand the mechanisms of virus movement in plant tissues. Rapid progress in studying the molecular mechanisms of systemic spread of plant infecting viruses revealed an interrelation between virus movement and macromolecular trafficking in plant tissues. This article summarizes current explorations on plant virus movement proteins (MPs) and introduces the state of the art in the identification and isolation of MP interacting host proteins.