Emerging Themes and Approaches in Plant Virus Epidemiology

Abstract

Plant diseases caused by viruses share many common features with those caused by other pathogen taxa in terms of the host-pathogen interaction, but there are also distinctive features in epidemiology, most apparent where transmission is by vectors. Consequently, the host-virus-vector-environment interaction presents a continuing challenge in attempts to understand and predict the course of plant virus epidemics. Theoretical concepts, based on the underlying biology, can be expressed in mathematical models, and tested through quantitative assessments of epidemics in the field; this remains a goal in understanding why plant virus epidemics occur and how they can be controlled. To this end, this review identifies recent emerging themes and approaches to fill in knowledge gaps in plant virus epidemiology. We review quantitative work on impact of climatic fluctuations and change on plants, virus and vectors under different scenarios where impacts on the individual components of the plant-virus-vector interaction may vary disproportionately; the continuing sometimes discordant debate on host resistance and tolerance as plant defense mechanisms, including aspects of farmer behavior and attitudes to disease management that may affect deployment in crops; disentangling host-virus-vector-environment interactions as these contribute to temporal and spatial disease progress in field populations, computational techniques for estimating epidemiological parameters from field observations, and the use of optimal control analysis to assess disease control options. We end by proposing new challenges and questions in plant virus epidemiology.

WITHDRAWN: Unveiling The Research Trends And Visualization of Vector Borne Plant Virus Diseases Through Bibliometric Analysis

“…This reveals the main themes and research areas within plant virus vector relationships (Jeger, et al, 2023).…”

Translating virome analyses to support biosecurity, on-farm management, and crop breeding

“…The virome perspective expanded our understanding of how viruses and plants interact, building on knowledge about the most prevalent and well-described viruses, which are often the most damaging to current crop systems. A frontier for epidemiology is understanding the interactions and antagonistic effects of virus species and their vectors, especially for viruses that produce subtle or no visual symptoms when infecting alone ( Jeger et al., 2023 ). Most studies focus on economically important crops, but secondary hosts may function as reservoirs for crop viruses, and virus spillover may occur between natural and crop ecosystems ( Alexander et al., 2013 ; Bernardo et al., 2017 ; Ingwell et al., 2017 ; Alcalá-Briseño et al., 2020 ).…”

Selfish grower behavior can group-optimally eradicate plant diseases caused by coinfection

“…Moreover, while there is an increasing number of epidemiological models accounting for human behavior and socio-economic feedbacks in the control of human (e.g., Bauch et al, 2003; Galvani et al, 2007; Fenichel et al, 2011; Cascante-Vega et al, 2022) and animal diseases (e.g., Hidano et al, 2018; Delabouglise & Boni, 2020; Cristancho Fajardo et al, 2021), there are only a few studies for plant diseases (Milne et al, 2015, 2020; McQuaid et al, 2017; Bate et al, 2021; Saikai et al, 2021; Murray-Watson et al, 2022; Murray-Watson & Cunniffe, 2022, 2023). However, their model structures are relatively complex and obscure how the epidemiological and behavioral processes interrelate (see Jeger et al, 2023).…”