Potyviridae
Authors: Valli Adrián , García Juan A , López‐Moya Juan J 
Published: May 2015

Abstract

The
Potyviridae
family comprises several genera of plant‐infecting single‐stranded positive‐sense RNA viruses, with flexible and filamentous virion particles. Currently, eight genera are recognised within the family, including the large genus
Potyvirus
with near 150 aphid‐transmitted viruses. The rest of genera,
Brambyvirus
,
Bymovirus
,
Ipomovirus
,
Macluravirus
,
Poacevirus
,
Rymovirus
and
Tritimovirus
, are differentiated by their genome composition and structure (two RNA molecules for bymoviruses, one for the rest of genera), by the vector organisms responsible of their dissemination and by genome sequence similarity. Globally very important as pathogens, they also have drawn the attention of the research community for years to study aspects such as taxonomy, evolution, virion structure, functional characterisation of viral proteins, diagnosis, control, interaction with hosts and vectors and even biotechnological applications. Recent advances concerning viruses within the family are being presented.

Key Concepts

Members of the family
Potyviridae
are positive‐strand RNA viruses infecting plants, with genomes directly translated in large polyproteins that are proteolytically processed by virus‐encoded proteinases.

The family
Potyviridae
is the largest group of RNA plant viruses. It consists of eight genera, seven of them including viruses with monopartite genomes and a genus that includes viruses with bipartite genomes.

Virus particles of members of the family
Potyviridae
are flexuous rods formed by multiple subunits of a single capsid protein.

The replication of viruses of the family
Potyviridae
takes place in virus‐induced membranous structures. Membrane vesicles induced by viral proteins, likely including replication complexes, move cell‐to‐cell during infection.

Viruses of the family
Potyviridae
may cause a large range of macroscopic symptoms, which in many cases result in serious diseases of crops with high socio‐economical relevance. A very distinctive microscopic feature of
Potyviridae
infections is the accumulation of pinwheel‐shaped cylindrical inclusions.

Members of the family
Potyviridae
usually can be transmitted by mechanical means; however, in nature, these viruses are vector‐transmitted by specific types of arthropods or plasmodiophorids, depending on the genera.

Some viruses in the family
Potyviridae
have restricted host ranges. However, many other members of the family are able to infect numerous plant species, and alternative hosts can greatly affect the incidence and epidemiology of these viruses.

The large number of viruses in the family illustrates their evolutive success with different driving forces operating during speciation, including host adaptation and recombination events when more than one virus infect the same host plant.

Both engineered vectors based on members of the family
Potyviridae
and genetic elements derived from them have been exploited as tools of biotechnological utility.

From both economic and scientific standpoints, the family
Potyviridae
can be considered in any top list, as evidenced by the fast‐growing numbers of hits in general or scientific literature Internet search engines.