Plant viruses traveling without passport

by Cristina Sáez, Israel Pagán

All plant viruses were thought to encode in its genome a movement protein that acts as a “passport,” allowing active movement within the host. A new study in PLOS Biology characterizes the first plant virus that can colonize its host without encoding this protein. All plant viruses were thought to encode in its genome a movement protein that acts as a “passport”, allowing active movement within the host. This primer highlights a study that characterizes the first plant virus that can colonize its host without encoding this protein.