Virus transmission
Vector-mediated Transmission
Category: Virology
Functions of Virus and Host Factors During Vector-mediated Transmission
from Stéphane Blanc and Martin Drucker writing in Recent Advances in Plant Virology
Most plant viruses are transmitted by living vectors that transport viruses to a new host plant. One discriminates between circulative transmission, where viruses must pass through the vector interior and are usually inoculated with the saliva on a healthy plant, and non-circulative transmission, where viruses do not need to pass through the vector interior but are directly inoculated from the mouth parts into a new host. Especially transmission of non-circulative viruses has been regarded as a simple process where a vector more or less accidentally transports the virus. However, it becomes more and more evident that this scenario is unlikely, because transmission constitutes a dramatic bottleneck of the virus life cycle, where only very few viral genomes pass to a new host, and where a given virus must do everything to ensure successful transmission. Viruses, also in non-circulative transmission, deliberately manipulate their hosts and vectors in often very unexpected ways to optimise their transmission.
Further reading: Recent Advances in Plant Virology | Virology Publications
from Stéphane Blanc and Martin Drucker writing in Recent Advances in Plant Virology
Most plant viruses are transmitted by living vectors that transport viruses to a new host plant. One discriminates between circulative transmission, where viruses must pass through the vector interior and are usually inoculated with the saliva on a healthy plant, and non-circulative transmission, where viruses do not need to pass through the vector interior but are directly inoculated from the mouth parts into a new host. Especially transmission of non-circulative viruses has been regarded as a simple process where a vector more or less accidentally transports the virus. However, it becomes more and more evident that this scenario is unlikely, because transmission constitutes a dramatic bottleneck of the virus life cycle, where only very few viral genomes pass to a new host, and where a given virus must do everything to ensure successful transmission. Viruses, also in non-circulative transmission, deliberately manipulate their hosts and vectors in often very unexpected ways to optimise their transmission.
Further reading: Recent Advances in Plant Virology | Virology Publications