Diverse roles of phytohormonal signaling in modulating plant-virus interactions.

Abstract

Virus infection brings about changes in the transcriptome, proteome, and metabolome status of the infected plant, wherein substantial alterations in the abundance of phytohormones and associated components involved in their signaling pathways have been observed. In recent years, extensive research in the field of plant virology has showcased the indisputable significance of phytohormone signaling during plant-virus interactions. Apart from acting as growth regulators, phytohormones elicit a robust immune response, which restricts viral multiplication within the plant and propagation by vectors. Interestingly, these pathways have been shown to act not only as isolated mechanisms but also as complex intertwined regulatory cascades where the crosstalk among different phytohormones and with other antiviral pathways takes place during plant-virus interaction. Viruses disrupt phytohormone homeostasis via their multifunctional effectors, which seems to be a 'smart' approach adopted by viruses to circumvent phytohormone-mediated plant immune responses. In this review, we summarize current understanding of role of phytohormone signaling pathways during plant-virus interactions in activating plant antiviral immune responses and how viruses exploit these signaling pathways to favor their pathogenesis.