Descriptions of plant viruses: Updating the top viruses with insights from the top virologists

Abstract

At the beginning of 2022, Annals of Applied Biology launched the Descriptions of Plant Viruses (DPV) article series with the primary goal of feeding the DPV database (https://www.dpvweb.net/dpv) with new entries and revising existing ones. The DPV database has a long and significant tradition within the Association of Applied Biologists; it began in 1970 with the description of cucumber mosaic virus and contains both historical and updated descriptions of plant viruses, totalling over 400 DPVs (Aranda & Gibbs, 2022). Since 2022, Annals has published six DPVs, all of them excellent reviews that comprehensively cover all aspects of the biology of the virus in question, written by leading experts in the field.

The series began with the DPV on turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) (Nellist et al., 2022), a virus that severely affects numerous crops and holds fundamental and biotechnological interest. Nellist et al. (2022) maintained the quality and spirit of the best previous DPVs and set the example of how to craft an excellent DPV for this new series. They brought together authors who had made critical contributions to various aspects of TuMV biology, skilfully combining classical plant virology knowledge—including diagnostics, epidemiology, and control—with more modern insights such as molecular host–virus interactions.

Following the TuMV DPV, others have been published on tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) (Fiallo-Olivé & Navas-Castillo, 2023), plum pox virus (PPV) (García et al., 2024), citrus tristeza virus (CTV) (Sun et al., 2024), cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus (CABYV) (Rabadán et al., 2025), and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) (Tiberini et al., 2025). In line with the journal's mission, all of these DPVs share the common feature of describing viruses with high applied relevance. For instance, PPV and CTV are arguably the most important viral pathogens of woody fruit trees. The economic losses caused by Sharka disease, whose causal agent is PPV, have recently been estimated at over €2.4 billion over the past 28 years. Quick decline epidemics (caused by CTV) in citrus grafted onto sour orange rootstocks have destroyed millions of trees across South America, California, Florida, Spain, Israel, and other production regions (García et al., 2024; Sun et al., 2024). In fact, CTV is particularly interesting in terms of control; managing stem pitting—CTV's second most important disease manifestation—has become a unique large-scale example of cross-protection, allowing disease control in extensive citrus-growing areas. Appropriately, the CTV DPV is dedicated to Prof. Moshe Bar-Joseph, a world-renowned researcher who devoted more than 50 years to citrus disease research and was a pioneer in the study of CTV and other closteroviruses (Sun et al., 2024).

The other four viruses covered in the Annals DPVs are also of great applied relevance in important crops such as tomato (TSWV and ToCV), cucurbits (CABYV), and brassicas (TuMV). Research on these viruses has not only been key to understanding epidemic progression and designing control strategies but has also greatly contributed to the development of modern plant virology as a fundamental discipline. For example, both TuMV and PPV are widely used model viruses for understanding the biology and host interactions of the extensive potyvirus family to which they belong (García et al., 2024; Nellist et al., 2022).

All of these aspects are masterfully captured in the six DPVs that Annals of Applied Biology has published so far. This collection is attracting significant interest not only from virologists but also from applied biologists in general, thanks to its conciseness and the broad range of topics covered for each virus. In fact, a Virtual Issue will be created to make this collection more accessible to interested readers. Although the recent Annals of Applied Biology review on tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) (Caruso et al., 2022) was not originally conceived as a DPV, its quality, rigour, and scope of topics clearly qualify it as a DPV, and it will also be included in the Virtual Issue. Authors who believe they can make meaningful contributions to the collection are definitively encouraged to contact the journal's editorial board.