Adaptation of positive-strand RNA viruses to plants

The vast majority of positive-strand RNA viruses (more than 500 species) are adapted to infection of plant hosts. Genome sequence comparisons of these plant RNA viruses have revealed that most of them are genetically related to animal cell-infecting counterparts; this led to the concept of "superfamilies". Comparison of genetic maps of representative plant and animal viruses belonging to the same superfamily (e.g. cowpea mosaic virus [CPMV] versus picornaviruses and tobacco mosaic virus versus alphaviruses) have revealed genes in the plant viral genomes that appear to be essential adaptations needed for successful invasion and spread through their plant hosts. The best studied example represents the "movement protein" gene that is actively involved in cell-to-cell spread of plant viruses, thereby playing a key role in virulence and pathogenesis. In this paper the host adaptations of a number of plant viruses will be discussed, with special emphasis on the cell-to-cell movement mechanism of comovirus CPMV.