author(s)
Turan VS, Verma SC, Sharma PL, Katna S and Dev B

abstract
The majority of plant viruses that cause diseases in agricultural crops rely on biotic vectors for transmission and survival. Viral diseases of plants cause enormous economic losses particularly in the tropics and semi-tropics which provide ideal conditions for the perpetuation of viruses and their vectors. Intensive agricultural practices necessitated by the ever-increasing demands of the rapidly growing population and the introduction of new genotypes, cropping patterns and crops have further aggravated the problem of viral diseases. The largest class of plant virus-transmitting vectors is insects but other vectors include mites, nematodes and chytrid fungi. The best-characterized plant viral insect vectors are aphids, thrips, leafhoppers, plant hoppers and whiteflies. The different modes of viral transmission by vectors include non-persistent, semi-persistent and persistent, whereby the transmission window to disseminate the virus to a new host plant after feeding on an infected plant by the vector lasts from seconds to minutes, hours to days, or days to weeks, respectively. Many diverse approaches have been tried to minimize the losses caused by these diseases. The mechanisms of arthropod-virus associations are many and complex, but common themes are beginning to emerge which may allow the development of novel strategies to ultimately control epidemics caused by arthropod-borne viruses.