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Updated: May 28, 2026

Dissecting Host-virus Interaction in Lytic Replication of a Model Herpesvirus
Published on: October 7, 2011
Host cell processes to accomplish mechanical and non-circulative virus transmission
Aurélie Bak1, Sarah L Irons, Alexandre Martinière
1INRA, Equipe CaGeTE, UMR BGPI Plant Pathogen Interactions, TA A54K Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
Abstract:
Mechanical vector-less transmission of viruses, as well as vector-mediated non-circulative virus transmission, where the virus attaches only to the exterior of the vector during the passage to a new host, are apparently simple processes: the viruses are carried along with the wind, the food or by the vector to a new host. We discuss here, using the examples of the non-circulatively transmitted Cauliflower mosaic virus that binds to its aphid vector's exterior mouthparts, and that of the mechanically (during feeding activity) transmitted Autographa californica multicapsid nucleopolyhedrovirus, that transmission of these viruses is not so simple as previously thought. Rather, these viruses prepare their transmission carefully and long before the actual acquisition event. Host-virus interactions play a pivotal and specialised role in the future encounter with the vector or the new host. This ensures optimal propagation and enlarges the tremendous bottleneck transmission presents for viruses and other pathogens.
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