Can plant viruses manipulate their transmission by insects and influence the evolution of their hosts ?

Virus infection induces changes in plant volatile emission and in the accumulation of insect-deterring compounds in plant tissues. These effects can make plants more or less attractive to insects.  Using cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) as a model my group has shown that infection with this virus can affect interactions of host plants with harmful insects, such as the aphid Myzus persicae, which vectors CMV, and with beneficial insects including pollinators like the bumblebee, Bombus terrestris (1, 2). In this talk I will discuss how viral manipulation of vectors can affect the epidemiology of aphid-transmitted viruses and, curiously, how virus-induced modification of plant-pollinator interactions may favour the reproduction of susceptible over that of resistant plants.

References

1. Groen SC et al. 2017 Current Opinion in Virology 26:20–27.

2. Groen SC et al. 2016 Plos Pathogens 12(8): e1005790. 

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