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Abstract

Following a season of diligent cultivation, the rice plants are ready for harvest. However, some rice plants have not headed yet and so are left unharvested in the fields. This delay is caused by infection with rice stripe mosaic virus, a newly emerged rice virus in southern China. Chen et al. (pages 2000-2016) demonstrated that the virus-encoded protein P6 hijacks the rice heading-related E3 ubiquitin ligase HAF1, leading to delayed heading. The infected plants that are left unharvested offer a conducive environment for the virus and its carrier, the leafhopper Recilia dorsalis, to overwinter.