From crop to hopper: The dual life of maize mosaic virus

Plant viruses represent a major threat to global food security and are some of the most difficult plant diseases to manage. Maize mosaic virus (MMV), a reemerging pathogen, poses a growing risk to maize production in tropical and subtropical regions. MMV is transmitted in a circulative, propagative manner by the corn planthopper (Peregrinus maidis), persisting throughout the insect’s entire life cycle. The virus replicates within the nuclei of both plant and insect hosts, and the conserved localization of viral proteins in these distinct systems suggests a shared replication strategy. The recent development of an infectious MMV clone has enabled detailed comparisons of the viral infection cycle across these divergent hosts. Moreover, the MMV system has been developed as a functional genomics platform for both maize and planthoppers, providing a robust tool for investigating cross-kingdom virus-host interactions and supporting efforts in crop improvement.