Molecular Plant Virology: Mechanisms of Replication, Genome Packaging, and Pathogenesis in Positive-Strand RNA Viruses

Dear Colleagues,

At the end of the 19th century, infectious agents smaller than bacteria, referred to as viruses, were discovered by a Russian botanist, Dmitri Ivanovsky. Since then, a wide range of viruses pathogenic to the food we eat, the air we breathe, and the community we live in have been identified. Ever since the discovery of the first virus, the iconic Tobacco mosaic virus, RNA plant viruses have occupied a unique niche in the virology community.

Almost all plant viruses are transmitted to their susceptible hosts by different vector species in infectious virion forms. The formation of infectious virions containing the genome involves two sequential, but complex, steps: replication and assembly of infectious virions. Replication is catalyzed by an active replicase complex consisting of virus-encoded replicase proteins and several host proteins.

Following replication, the next step is to encapsulate the infectious genome into virions by the capsid protein. Packaging into virions is envisioned as a specific process since assembled virions exclusively contain only the viral progeny. Over the last two decades, the recombinant DNA technology and molecular and cell biology-related techniques have been applied to study plant viruses. The available evidence offers novel insights into the plant viral genome’s organization, replication, and virion assembly. Moreover, biophysical and cryo-electron microscopy studies have provided information on the architecture and assembly of viral nucleocapsids. Other coordinated events such as local and long-distance movement and RNA silencing have been linked to the overall development of pathogenesis.

In this Special Issue of Plants, we focus on the latest advances in plant virus replication, genome packaging, and pathogenesis. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, genome replication and packaging mechanisms, cell-to-cell and long-distance spread, RNA silencing, protein–protein interactions, and symptom development.

Prof. A.L.N. Rao
Guest Editor

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• molecular plant virology
• replication
• packaging and virus assembly
• cell-to-cell and long-distance movement
• protein–protein interactions
• host proteins
• symptom development