Abstract
Persistent circulative transmission of plant viruses involves complex interactions between the transmitted virus and its insect vector. Several studies have shown that insect vector proteins are involved in the passage and the transmission of the virus. Interestingly, proteins expressed by bacterial endosymbionts that reside in the insect vector, were also shown to influence the transmission of these viruses. Thus far, the transmission of two plant viruses that belong to different virus genera was shown to be facilitated by a bacterial chaperone protein called GroEL. This protein was shown to be implicated in the transmission of Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) by the green peach aphid Myzus persicae, and the transmission of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) by the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci. These tri-trophic levels of interactions and their possible evolutionary implications are reviewed.
Highlights
Persistent circulative transmission of plant viruses involves complex interactions between the transmitted virus and its insect vector
Most circulative plant viruses do not have the ability to move between plants and mostly rely on their vector to be injected into the plant tissue from which they can develop a systemic infection in the xylem and, more often, the phloem
A debate exists as to whether non-propagative viruses have some transcriptional activity in their insect vectors, as there is some evidence that transcripts of non-propagative viruses, such as begomoviruses, rise within the first few days following acquisition from the infected plant and retention in the vector [5]
Summary
It is widely accepted that the transmission of viruses to eukaryotic (animal and plant) hosts by arthropod vectors is coordinated between evolutionarily conserved, but highly specific, proteins. Begomoviruses exhibit a range of tissue tropisms in the plant with some being phloem-limited, and others not restricted to the phloem In addition they are affiliated with gut, hemolymph, and salivary organs of their whitefly vector, respectively, indicating evidence of cross-kingdom symbiosis with distinct co-adaptations to plant and animal hosts. TYLCV and SLCV has been observed only in the PSGs. A non-vector whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (West.) has been shown to ingest begomoviruses, and in one instance evidence was provided for virus presence in the blood, in neither instance did virus transmission occur indicating that vector specificity does not reside at the level of ingestion or at the gut interface [16,58]. This protein was shown to interact directly with TYLCV and SLCV [60], and to influence their transmission
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