Taking advantage of a pathogen: understanding how a virus alleviates plant stress response

The simplicity of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) genome, encoding six proteins only, contrasts with the complexity of its impact on tomato plants. In this review, we discuss our understanding of how TYLCV proteins establish infection, and how the virus suppresses the effects of several abiotic stresses. TYLCV counteracts cell death induced by other factors, such as inactivation of HSP90 functions. Suppression of plant death is associated with the inhibition of the ubiquitin 26S proteasome degradation and with a deactivation of the heat shock transcription factor HSFA2 pathways. In order to ensure its own life cycle and spread, TYLCV protects the infected host from various unfriendly stresses, and this property can be exploited to protect crops from environmental stresses.