Blaze a New Trail: Plant Virus Xylem Exploitation

Abstract

Viruses are trailblazers in hijacking host systems for their own needs. Plant viruses have been shown to exploit alternative avenues of translocation within a host, including a challenging route through the xylem, to expand their niche and establish systemic spread, despite apparent host-imposed obstacles. Recent findings indicate that plant viruses from many families could successfully hack xylem cells in a broad range of plant hosts, including herbaceous and perennial woody plants. Similar to virus-related structures present in the phloem, virus particles and membrane-containing viral replication complexes are often observed in the xylem. Except for a few single-stranded DNA viruses in the family Geminiviridae and a negative-sense single-stranded RNA rhabdovirus, Lettuce necrotic yellows virus, the majority of the viruses that were detected in the xylem belong to the group of positive-sense RNA viruses. The diversity of the genome organization and virion morphology of those viruses indicates that xylem exploitation appears to be a widely adapted strategy for plant viruses. This review outlines the examples of the xylem-associated viruses and discusses factors that regulate virus inhabitation of the xylem as well as possible strategies of virus introduction into the xylem. In some cases, plant disease symptoms have been shown to be closely related to virus colonization of the xylem. Inhibiting viral xylem invasion could raise potential attractive approaches to manage virus diseases. Therefore, the identification of the host genes mediating virus interaction with the plant xylem tissue and understanding the underlying mechanisms call for more attention.

Genomics: Infectious Disease and Host–Pathogen Interaction

“…In plants, plant viruses can hijack host systems for their own needs; in some cases, symptoms of plant diseases have been linked with virus colonization of the xylem and some host genes interact with the virus in the plant’s xylem tissue [ 6 ]. Other than viruses, stripe rust which is caused by the fungus Puccinia striiformis f. sp.…”

“…This Special Issue of the International Journal of Molecular Sciences entitled “Genomics: Infectious Disease and Host –Pathogen Interaction” contains twelve original articles and three reviews that provide new insights into infectious diseases with regard to biofilm formation [ 1 , 2 , 3 ], diagnostics [ 4 ], vaccine development [ 5 ], and host–pathogen interaction [ 6 , 7 ]; these insights are based on genomic [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], transcriptomic [ 13 , 14 ], and microbiomic [ 15 ] studies.…”

Effect of Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) on the Content of Some Cucumber Genotypes of Nitrogen, Protein, Phenols, and Flavonoids

“…European Journal of Theoretical and Applied Sciences,1(6), 970-977. DOI: 10.59324/ejtas.2023.1(6).93 aphids such as Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii, which are the most important species in the transmission of this virus (Sun et al, 2022). This study aimed to screen the response of some of cucumber gentypes against CMV and to find out the effect of the infection on the plant content of nitrogen and protein phenolic compounds and flavonoids.…”