Tospoviruses are differentiated by the variability in the NP sequences. Nevertheless, there is an innate biological association between tospoviruses and their thrips vectors. Once a virus is acquired by the thrips larvae, the virus replicates in the thrips and survives through the developmental stages of the insect. Only acquisition by first instar thrips larvae can lead to the adults that transmit the virus. A virus acquired by adults is not transmitted, due to the presence of a midgut barrier to virus acquisition in adult insects.
Infective adults retain the ability to transmit the virus for life.
However, the virus is not transmitted from an adult to its offspring. Tospoviruses as well as their thrips vectors have a wide host range. For example, TSWV is known to infect about 650 plant species in 45 families. These isolates have not yet been named. International collaboration Close collaboration and exchange of information is essential among different countries to sustain a concerted effort in developing management strategies for tospoviruses.