Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus:an emerging plant begomovirus threatening cucurbit production

Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus(ToLCNDV),a bipartite begomovirus,was first reported to infect tomato and has recently spread rapidly as an emerging disease to Cucurbitaceae crops.To date,the virus has been reported to infect more than 11 cucurbit crops,in 16 countries and regions,causing severe yield losses.In autumn 2022,ToLCNDV was first isolated from cucurbit plants in Southeastern coastal areas of China.Phylogenetic analysis established that these isolates belong to the Asian ToLCNDV clade,and shared high nucleotide identity and closest genetic relationship with the DNA-A sequence from the Chinese tomato-infecting ToLCNDV isolate(Accession no.OP356207)and the tomato New Delhi ToLCNDV-Severe isolate(Accession no.HM159454).In this review,we summarize the occurrence and distribution,host range,detection and diagnosis,control strategies,and genetic resistance of ToLCNDV in the Cucurbitaceae.We then summarize pathways that could be undertaken to improve our understanding of this emerging disease,with the objective to develop ToLCNDV-resistant cucurbit cultivars.

Nucieocytoplasmic Shuttling of Geminivirus C4 Protein Mediated by Phosphorylation and Myristoylation Is Critical for Viral Pathogenicity

Many geminivirus C4 proteins induce severe developmental abnormalities in plants.We previously demon- strated that Tomato leaf curl Yunnan virus (TLCYnV)C4 induces plant developmental abnormalities at least partically by decreasing the accumulation of NbSKη,an ortholog of Arabidopsis BIN2 kinase involved in the brassinosteroid signaling pathway,in the nucleus through directing it to the plasma membrane.However, the molecular mechanism by which the membrane-associated C4 modifies the localization of NbSKη in the host cell remains unclear.Here,we show that TLCYnV C4 is a nucleocytoplasmic shuttle protein,and that C4 shuttling is accompanied by nuclear export of NbSKTI.TLCYnV C4 is phosphorylated by NbSKη in the nucleus,which promotes myristoylation of the viral protein.Myristoylation of phosphorylated C4 favors its interaction with exportin-α(XPO I);which in turn facilitates nuclear export of the C4/NbSKTI complex. Supporting this model,chemical inhibition of N-myristoyltransferases or exportin-α enhanced nuclear retention of C4,and mutations of the putative phosphorylation or myristoylation sites in C4 resulted in increased nuclear retention ofrC4 and thus decreased severity of C4-induced developmental abnormalities. The impact of C4 on development is also lessened when a nuclear localization signal or a nuclear export signal is added to its C-terminus,restricting it to a specific cellular niche and therefore impairing nucleocytoplasmic shuttling.Taken together,our results suggest that nucleocytoplasmic shuttling of TLCYnV C4,enabled by phosphorylation by NbSKη,myristoylation,and interaction with exportin-α is critical for its function as a pathogenicity factor.