Transmission of plant viruses by fungi

The evidence for the mechanisms involved in virus transmission by fungi is reviewed in relation to the non-persistent and persistent categories usually recognised. Non-persistent transmission by Olpidium spp. has been little studied in the last 20 years, but appears to depend on adsorption of virus to the outside of the fungal zoospores. This seems to be under the genetic control of both the virus (via its coat protein) and the vector. Such viruses are not transmitted in the fungal resting spores. The route by which the virus is transferred from the vector to the host may involve uptake into the zoospore but this deserves further study. Persistent transmission by Olpidium, Polymyxa and Spongospora spp. is less well characterised. Some of the evidence used for its support is inconclusive. The viruses are probably always carried inside zoospores, and they also persist in the fungal resting spores. Transmission depends on the genome of the vector and the virus, but not exclusively on the virus coat protein.