In‐Frame Deletion Mutant of eIF4E1 Attenuates Cucumber Mosaic Virus Virulence by Interfering With 2b Function in Tomato

ABSTRACT The eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) family is essential for host gene expression and is also exploited by certain viruses for viral replication. Mutations in plant eIF4E genes disrupt their interactions with viral proteins and confer resistance to various viruses. Previously, we showed that CRISPR/Cas9‐edited tomato plants with a 9‐nucleotide deletion ( 9DEL ) in the eIF4E1 coding sequence exhibited enhanced resistance to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV). Here, we investigated the underlying mechanism of this resistance. We found that both wild‐type and 9DEL‐eIF4E1 proteins bind to the CMV 2b protein. 2b is a multifunctional protein, and our results indicate that its binding to eIF4E1 at least interferes with its RNA silencing suppression activity. In inoculation tests, CMV lacking 2b failed to establish systemic infection in tomato plants but retained the ability to establish systemic infection in Nicotiana benthamiana , indicating that 2b targeting is more effective in tomato. Our data suggest that 9DEL ‐mediated CMV resistance arises from a modified function of 9DEL‐eIF4E1, which interferes with the activity of CMV 2b. This study is the first to demonstrate the interaction between eIF4E and CMV 2b.