A molecular tug-of-war: Global plant proteome changes during viral infection

Plant pathogenic viruses cause a number of economically important diseases in food, fuel, and fiber crops worldwide. As obligate parasites with highly reduced genomes, viruses rely heavily on their hosts for replication, assembly, intra- and intercellular movement, and attraction of vectors for dispersal. Therefore, viruses must influence or directly utilize many host proteins and processes. While many general effects of virus infection have long been known (e.g., reduction in photosynthesis, alterations in carbon metabolism and partitioning, increased expression of pathogenesis-related proteins), the precise underlying mechanisms and functions in the viral life cycle are largely a mystery. Proteomic studies, including studies of differential protein regulation during infection as well as studies of host–viral protein–protein interactions, can help shed light on the complex and varied molecular interactions between viruses and plant hosts. In this review, we summarize current literature in plant-virus proteomics and speculate on why viruses have been selected to manipulate these diverse biochemical pathways in their plant hosts.