The Role of Aphid Salivation in the Transmission of Plant Viruses

Abstract

The excellent book Aphids as Virus Vectors, edited by Harris and Maramorosch in 1977 (8), was lent to me in 1984 by my doctorate supervisor. This book started me on the path to learning about the fascinating world of aphid biology and behavior and the way that plant viruses are transmitted by aphids. It was a challenging starting point to my scienti c career because it addressed a series of open questions that remained unanswered at that time and proposed provocative hypotheses on the transmission mechanisms of plant viruses by their aphid vectors. The book included fascinating chapters reviewing most of the copious research conducted on this topic in the 1950s, `60s and `70s by leading scientists such as Bradley, Kennedy, Sylvester, Pirone, Harris and Rochow, among others. At that point I was mainly interested in the work done on circulative viruses because our laboratory at INIA, Madrid, was starting a joint project with the USDA and Purdue University on the epidemiology and control of Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV), which was an important disease both in the USA and Spain by that time.