Current Research Topics in Plant Virology 2016

This book written by international authorities in the field consists of 14 chapters, summarizing the most recent progress in the major plant virus research areas, pointing out current challenges and discussing future prospects. This book is an ideal reference book for teachers, senior undergraduate students, graduate students, and scientists who are interested in plant biology, microbiology, pathology and virology. Since the discovery of the first virus tobacco mosaic virus in 1890s, virology has become a subject of science. As an obligate intracellular parasite, virus virtually infects all living organisms and exclusively lives and multiplies in its host cells. Viral infections cause significant losses. In plants, virus infections often reduce crop yields drastically and deteriorate crop quality. As a major branch of virology, plant virology studies plant viruses, aimed at the development of novel antiviral strategies and beneficial uses of viruses. Its core is constituted of the viral life cycle, virus-host biology, viral pathogenesis, immunity to viruses, virus structure, and virus evolution and ecology. Since 1980s, numerous milestone findings in plant virology, such as transcriptional promoters (i.e., the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter), terminations, translational enhancers, and virus-induced gene silencing and suppression of gene silencing, and viral cell-to-cell movement and systemic spread, has contributed enormously to the advancement and development of modern biology and plant biotechnology. More recently, various breakthroughs have led to the rapid advance of this subject.

Topics covered in this book include RNA silencing and its suppression in plant virus infection, virus replication mechanisms, the association of cellular membranes with virus replication and movement, plant genetic resistance to viruses, viral cell-to-cell spread, long distance movement in plants, virus induced ER stress, virus diversity and evolution, virus-vector interactions, cross protection, geminiviruses, negative strand RNA viruses, viroids, and the diagnosis of plant viral diseases using next generation sequencing. This book was anticipated to help plant pathologists, scholars, professors, teachers and advanced students in the field with a comprehensive state-of-the-art knowledge of the subject.