An Insight into Cotton Leaf Curl Multan Betasatellite, the Most Important Component of Cotton Leaf Curl Disease Complex

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is one of the most economically important diseases and is a constraint to cotton production in major producers, Pakistan and India. CLCuD is caused by monopartite plant viruses belonging to the family (genus ), in association with an essential, disease-specific satellite, (CLCuMuB) belonging to a newly-established family (genus ). CLCuMuB has a small genome (ca. 1350 nt) with a satellite conserved region, an adenine-rich region and a single gene that encodes for a multifunctional βC1 protein. CLCuMuB βC1 protein has a major role in pathogenicity and symptom determination, and alters several host cellular functions like autophagy, ubiquitination, and suppression of gene silencing, to assist CLCuD infectivity. Efficient -replication ability of CLCuMuB with several monopartite and bipartite begomoviruses, is also associated with the rapid evolution and spread of CLCuMuB. In this article we comprehensively reviewed the role of CLCuMuB in CLCuD, focusing on the βC1 functions and its interactions with host proteins.