Tospovirus

The Tospoviruses are a genus (Topsovirus) of plant viruses within the viral family Bunyaviridae. They are the sole group of plant infecting viruses in this family, with the majority of other viruses in the Bunyaviridae infecting animals. The genus takes its name from the discovery of Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus (TSWV) in Australia in 1915. It remained the only member of the family until the early 1990's when genetic characterisation of viruses discovered in plants became more common. There are now at least twenty viral "species" in the family with more being recorded and described on a relatively regular basis.

Transmission
Tospoviruses are transmitted by an insect vector, generally a thrips. The virus infects larval stage thrips, which upon adulthood, are able to infect new host plants.

Agricultural importance
Plants which have been infected by a Tospovirus are incurable, and will only cause more infections if left in the field. resultingly all infected plants must be destroyed in order to prevent the spread of disease.

There are a large number of families that are known to be effected by viruses of the Tospovirus genus. These include both food crops (such as peanuts, watermelons, capsicums, tomatos, zucchinis, et al.) as well as ornamental species which are important to flower farms (calla lily, impatiens, crysanthemums, iris, et al.). For a more complete list of hosts examine the Tospovirus host list at Kansas State University.

Resources

 * The Complete Tospovirus Resource Page at KSU
 * Tospoviruses:Bunyaviridae from Plant Viruses online
 * Tospoviruses (Family Bunyaviridae, Genus Tospovirus) An article by Scott Adkins, Tom Zitter and Tim Momol.