Role of protein intrinsic disorder in potyvirus adaptation to its host – ID4VISA21

Plant health is of paramount importance to ensure food supplies for a growing world population. The Potyvirus genus is the most damaging group to crops. The high mutational frequency of these viruses results in an adaptive potential compromising the sustainability of host resistance. Understanding the molecular basis of their adaptation is of prime importance to derive sustainable resistance strategies. Many biologically active proteins possess intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), e.g. regions devoid of stable structure and yet exerting biological function(s). Given the strong evolutionary potential of potyviruses on the one hand, and the high IDR content in their proteome on the other, this project aims at assessing the contribution of intrinsic disorder to the mechanisms of adaptation to the host.