Autophagy functions as an antiviral mechanism against geminiviruses in plants.

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that recycles damaged or unwanted cellular components, and has been linked to plant immunity. However, how autophagy contributes to plant immunity is unknown. Here we reported that the plant autophagic machinery targets the virulence factor βC1 of (CLCuMuV) for degradation through its interaction with the key autophagy protein ATG8. A V32A mutation in βC1 abolished its interaction with NbATG8f, and virus carrying βC1 showed increased symptoms and viral DNA accumulation in plants. Furthermore, silencing of autophagy-related genes and reduced plant resistance to the DNA viruses CLCuMuV, , and , whereas activating autophagy by silencing genes enhanced plant resistance to viral infection. Thus, autophagy represents a novel anti-pathogenic mechanism that plays an important role in antiviral immunity in plants.