Interaction of Movement Proteins with Host Factors, Mechanism of Viral Host Cell Manipulation and Influence of MPs on Plant Growth and Development

Even more than 100 years after Eduard Tangl first described plasmodesmata (PD) as “open communications” between protoplasts of endosperm cells (Carr 1976), the components of plasmodesmata as well as plasmodesmata-located proteins still remain enigmatic. Considering the fact, that this system is also co-opted by various plant viruses to enable the viral spread throughout the plant, the interaction of viral movement proteins (MPs) with plant host factors inevitably has to target the transport to or through plasmodesmata. This chapter attempts to give an overview concerning experimentally demonstrated interactions of movement proteins with host factors and possible mechanisms of viral host cell manipulations.