TYLCV-Is movement in planta does not require V2 protein

•TYLCV-Is V2 protein is localized in distinct microbodies throughout the cell cytoplasm, around the nucleus and in association with cytoplasmic strands but is not associated with the plasmodesmata.•Disruption of RNA-silencing suppression activity of TYLCV-Is V2 protein causes low titer of the virus in the infected plants.•The movement of TYLCV-Is in planta does not require a functional V2 protein.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), a major tomato pathogen causing extensive crop losses, is a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus. V2 mutants of TYLCV-Is and related viruses tend to induce symptomless infection with attenuated viral DNA levels, while accumulating close to wild-type DNA levels in protoplasts, suggesting V2 as a movement protein. The discovery of plant-silencing mechanisms and viral silencing suppressors, V2 included, led us to reconsider V2׳s involvement in viral movement. We studied two mutant versions of the virus, one impaired in V2 silencing-suppression activity, and another carrying a non-translatable V2. While both mutant viruses spread in the infected plant to newly emerged leaves at the same rate as the wild-type virus, their DNA-accumulation levels were tenfold lower than in the wild-type virus. Thus, we suggest that the setback in virus proliferation, previously ascribed to a movement impediment, is due to lack of silencing-suppression activity.