New MPMI focus issue seeks to improve management of virus-induced disease in crops

Viruses subvert or remodel host cells from the inside, relying on the host cellular machinery for fundamental aspects of replication and dispersal. Because viruses are so intimately associated with all aspects of the functioning of the host cell, study of plant viruses has revealed much about the inner workings of plant cells, providing insight into plasmodesmatal connections, cell-cell signaling, secretion, cytoskeletal dynamics and the role of the chloroplast, among others.

Increased understanding of the mechanisms underlying the interactions between viruses and the inner workings of the cells they infect is essential for improved management of virus-induced disease in crops. Our knowledge of this area has increased tremendously in the past decade; however, many open questions remain, and the cell biology of virus-host and virus-vector interactions is one of the most exciting areas of research in the molecular plant-microbe field.

The January focus issue of the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions journal addresses several of these areas, with four open access reviews and several research articles covering a variety of current topics examining the cell biology of virus-plant and virus-vector interactions, including cellular RNA hubs, plasmodesmal functioning, tripartite interactions, mechanisms of host defense suppression, and biotechnological approaches to induce host resistance.

###

For more information, read the focus issue on Cell Biology of Virus-Plant and Virus-Vector Interactions in the Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions journal.

Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions® (MPMI) publishes fundamental and advanced applied research on the genetics, genomics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and biophysics of pathological, symbiotic, and associative interactions of microbes, insects, nematodes, or parasitic plants with plants.

Follow us on Twitter @MPMIjournal and visit https://apsjournals.apsnet.org/journal/mpmi to learn more.