Whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses are major pathogens of the important crop cassava in Africa. The intensive sampling and sequencing of cassava mosaic disease-causing viruses that occurred in the wake of a severe outbreak in Central Africa (1997-2002) allowed us to estimate the rate of evolution of this virus. East African cassava mosaic virus and related species are obligately bipartite (DNA-...

Mycoviruses are viruses that infect fungi and have the potential to control fungal diseases of crops when associated with hypovirulence. Typically, mycoviruses have double-stranded (ds) or single-stranded (ss) RNA genomes. No mycoviruses with DNA genomes have previously been reported. Here, we describe a hypovirulence-associated circular ssDNA mycovirus from the plant pathogenic fungus Scleroti...

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process that recycles damaged or unwanted cellular components, and has been linked to plant immunity. However, how autophagy contributes to plant immunity is unknown. Here we reported that the plant autophagic machinery targets the virulence factor βC1 of Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV) for degradation through its interaction with the key autopha...

Geminiviruses are single-stranded DNA viruses that cause severe disease (Figure 1) and considerable damage to crops worldwide, including tomato, cotton, maize, bean, and cassava. They have small circular genomes that lack genes for DNA and RNA polymerases, and viral replication and transcription are dependent on host plant enzymes. Many geminiviruses encode proteins, such as the AL2 protein fro...

Despite having single stranded DNA genomes that are replicated by host DNA polymerases, viruses in the family Geminiviridae are apparently evolving as rapidly as some RNA viruses. The observed substitution rates of geminiviruses in the genera Begomovirus and Mastrevirus are so high that the entire family could conceivably have originated less than a million years ago (MYA). However, the existen...

Cytosine methylation is an epigenetic mark that promotes gene silencing and plays an important role in genome defence against transposons and invading DNA viruses. Previous data showed that the largest family of single-stranded DNA viruses, Geminiviridae, prevents methylation-mediated transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) by interfering with the proper functioning of the plant methylation cycle....

Although exchange of genetic information by recombination plays an important role in the evolution of viruses, it is not clear how it generates diversity. Understanding recombination events helps with the study of the evolution of new virus strains or new viruses. Geminiviruses are plant viruses which have ambisense single-stranded circular DNA genomes and are one of the most economically impor...

Cyantraniliprole is a novel insecticide for control of multiple chewing and sucking insect pest species including the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), which is one of the most important polyphagous pests in tropical, subtropical, and Mediterranean regions. This study aims to evaluate the effects of cyantraniliprole on the probing behavior of B. tabaci on tomato. Electrical penet...

Geminiviruses are known to exhibit both prokaryotic and eukaryotic features in their genomes, with the ability to express their genes and even replicate in bacterial cells. We have demonstrated previously the existence of unit-length single-stranded circular DNAs of Ageratum yellow vein virus (AYVV, a species in the genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae) in Escherichia coli cells, which promp...

Geminiviruses are single-stranded DNA viruses that cause severe disease (Figure 1) and considerable damage to crops worldwide, including tomato, cotton, maize, bean, and cassava. They have small circular genomes that lack genes for DNA and RNA polymerases, and viral replication and transcription are dependent on host plant enzymes. Many geminiviruses encode proteins, such as the AL2 protein fro...