Molecular interplay between phytohormones and geminiviruses: A saga of a never-ending arms race.

Geminiviruses can infect a wide range of plant hosts worldwide and have hence become an emerging global agro-economic threat. The association of these viruses with satellite molecules and highly efficient insect vectors like whiteflies further prime their devastating impacts. Plants elicit a strong antiviral immune response to restrict the invasion of this destructive pathogen. Phytohormones help plants to do so and occupy the front row in combating this biotroph. These defense hormones not only inhibit geminiviral propagation but also hamper viral transmission by compromising the performance of their insect vectors. Nonetheless, geminiviruses have coevolved to have a few multitasking virulence factors that readily remodel host cellular machineries to circumvent the phytohormone-mediated manifestation of immune response. Furthermore, these obligate parasites exploit the growth hormones to produce a cellular environment permissive for virus replication. In the review we delineate current understanding of the roles and regulation of phytohormones in geminiviral pathogenesis.