Background Cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV) is a bipartite cucurbit-infecting crinivirus within the family Closteroviridae . The crinivirus genome varies among genera. P4.9 is the first protein encoded by CCYV RNA2. P5, which is encoded by LIYV, is necessary for efficient viral infectivity in plants; however, it remains unknown whether CCYV P4.9 is involved in movement. Finding In this study, we used green fluorescent protein (GFP) to examine the intracellular distribution of P4.9-GFP in plant cells, and observed fluorescence in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Transient expression of P4.9 was localized to the plasmodesmata. Co-infiltration of agrobacterium carrying binary plasmids of P4.9 and GFP facilitated GFP diffusion between cells. Besides P4.9 was able to spread by itself to neighboring cells, and co-localized with a marker specific to the endoplasmic reticulum, HDEL-mCherry, but not with the Golgi marker Man49-mCherry. Conclusions Together, these results demonstrate that CCYV P4.9 is involved in cell–cell movement. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12985-019-1192-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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