Tomato yellow leaf curl virus effects on chloroplast biogenesis and cellular structure

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) is a begomovirus causing significant crop losses in tomatoes worldwide. TYLCV infection has several defined symptoms that are characterized at the whole plant level that include yellowing and curling of the leaves, stunting and growth retardation, and severe yield losses that can reach 100%. While the etiology and phenotypic symptoms of TYLCV infection were characterized, little is known about the cellular basis of these symptoms. Our goal in the present study is to describe some of the microscopic features of the disease while comparing TYLCV-susceptible and resistant near-isogenic tomato plants under infection. We depict the cellular changes that occur in susceptible line as a result of TYLCV infection that include: epidermal cell sizes reduction, accompanied with modifications in cell shape; reduction in plastid number, plastid size and chlorophyll content; diminished expression genes encoding LHC, Rub L, CAB4, and CAB8 and a surge in plasmodesmata number after infection. We conclude that TYLCV affect many targets or that it has a very critical target in cellular development.