Geminiviruses are plant-infecting viruses characterized by a single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) genome. Geminivirus-derived proteins are multifunctional and effective regulators in modulating the host cellular processes resulting in successful infection. Virus-host interactions result in changes in host gene expression patterns, reprogram plant signaling controls, disrupt central cellular metabolic pa...

Germin-like proteins (GLPs) are encoded by a family of genes found in all plants, and in terms of function, the GLPs are implicated in the response of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses. CchGLP is a gene encoding a GLP identified in a geminivirus-resistant Capsicum chinense Jacq accession named BG-3821, and it is important in geminivirus resistance when transferred to susceptible tobacco in ...

Geminivirus, which causes yellow leaf curl disease of wax gourd plants, was detected using polymerase chain reaction with geminivirus-specific primers. The complete genomic sequence of a geminivirus isolated from wax gourd was determined by sequencing overlapping DNA fragments. The genome consisted of 2739 nucleotides, contained 5 open reading frames (ORFs) typical of geminiviruses, 2 ORFs on t...

RNA silencing has an important role in defending against virus infection in plants. Plants with the deficiency of RNA silencing components often show enhanced susceptibility to viral infections. RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RDRs) mediated-antiviral defense has a pivotal role in resistance to many plant viruses. In RDR6-mediated defense against viral infection, a plant-specific RNA binding prot...

The geminivirus protein AL1 initiates viral DNA replication, regulates its own expression, and induces plant gene transcription. To better understand how AL1 interacts with host proteins during these processes, we used yeast two-hybrid library screening and a baculovirus protein interaction system to identify plant proteins that interact with AL1. These studies identified a Ser/Thr kinase, a ki...

The NSP-interacting kinase (NIK) receptor-mediated defense pathway has been identified recently as a virulence target of the geminivirus nuclear shuttle protein (NSP). However, the NIK1-NSP interaction does not fit into the elicitor-receptor model of resistance, and hence the molecular mechanism that links this antiviral response to receptor activation remains obscure. Here, we identified a rib...

Geminiviruses include a large number of single-stranded DNA viruses that are emerging as useful tools to dissect many fundamental processes in plant hosts. However, there have been no reports yet regarding the genetic dissection of the geminivirus-plant interaction. Here, a high-throughput approach was developed to screen Arabidopsis activation-tagged mutants which are resistant to geminivirus ...

Plant cell growth and development depend on continuous cell proliferation which is restricted to small regions of the plant called meristems. Infection by geminiviruses, small DNA viruses whose replicative cycle relies on host cell factors, is excluded from those proliferating areas. Since most of the replicative factors are present, almost exclusively, in proliferating cells, geminivirus infec...

Geminiviruses are single-stranded DNA plant infecting viruses that cause major losses in important crops in tropical and subtropical countries. Tomato leaf curl virus (TLCV) belonging to the genera Begomovirus, is a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus that causes a severe leaf curl disease in tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). The importance of this disease has prompted a great need for a rapid ide...

A new extrachromosomal DNA, EcOYW1, was cloned from the onion yellows phytoplasma (OY-W). Southern blot and PCR analysis showed that EcOYW1 is not present in the OY-M, a mild symptom line derived from OY-W. We determined the complete nucleotide sequence of EcOYW1; it is a circular dsDNA of 7.0 kbp in length, which contains seven ORFs. ORF1 encoded a homologue of the geminivirus Rep protein. Wes...