Entries by Ved Prakash

A viral master plan: TYLCV reprograms tomato scent and whitefly senses for maximum spread

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Viruses spreading to crops via tiny insects is one of agriculture’s biggest problems. Liang et al. uncovered the two-part strategy used by the tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) to hijack the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. It’s a double dose of manipulation designed to guarantee infection. The virus manipulates the host and vector by mastering two […]

A plant virus uses plant metacaspase for its own benefit

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A recent study by Pi et al. decoded previously unknown mechanism through which a virus manipulates the plant defense pathway for successful infection. Focusing on the interaction between barley and the devastating barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV), researchers identified a critical regulatory hub centered on the cleavage of a specific RNA binding protein. In an […]