title: Aphids as transport devices for plant viruses.
abstract: Plant viruses have evolved a wide array of strategies to ensure efficient transfer from one host to the next. Any organism feeding on infected plants and traveling between plants can potentially act as a virus transport device. Such organisms, designated vectors, are found among parasitic fungi, root nematodes and plant-feeding arthropods, particularly insects. Due to their extremely specialized feeding behavior - exploring and sampling all plant tissues, from the epidermis to the phloem and xylem - aphids are by far the most important vectors, transmitting nearly 30% of all plant virus species described to date. Several different interaction patterns have evolved between viruses and aphid vectors and, over the past century, a tremendous number of studies have provided details of the underlying mechanisms. This article presents an overview of the different types of virus-aphid relationships, state-of-the-art knowledge of the molecular processes underlying these interactions, and the remaining black boxes waiting to be opened in the near future.
authors.affiliation: UMR SVQV, INRA-UDS, 28, rue de Herrlisheim, 68021 Colmar cedex, France.
authors.forename: Véronique
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Brault
authors.forename: Maryline
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uzest
authors.forename: Baptiste
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Monsion
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Jacquot
authors.forename: Stéphane
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Blanc
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology*; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D007303:Insect Vectors; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D018521:Plant Physiological Phenomena; D010942:Plant Viruses