Potato virus Y threatens agriculturally important crops such as potatoes, tobacco, peppers and tomatoes. In order to reduce its impact, it is important to understand the interactions between the virus and the plant. When a virus comes in contact with a plant, the plant recognizes it and activates its defence mechanism, which is not necessarily successful in stopping the virus. The virus needs plant factors for its reproduction and movement in the plant. As a result, the plant and the virus are constantly interacting. Researchers have already investigated interactions in numerous studies, but many mechanisms are still unknown and poorly understood. New interactions between virus proteins and plant proteins are being discovered constantly. To track the virus in the plant and detect interactions between proteins, the virus or viral proteins can be labeled with fluorescent markers. The information we obtain in this way allows us to target key viral proteins and thus disable the virus from replicating. However, we can use genetic engineering to edit plant genome and thereby suppress the interactions between key proteins and the plant, thereby preventing the spread and reproduction of the virus.
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