Abstract: Plant virus diseases are the “cancer” of the crops, and up to now there is still no effective method to control them. Currently 80% of the known plant virus diseases depend on insect vectors, and the transmission of plant viruses by insects is an interaction of insects, viruses and host plants. The procedure of plant virus transmission has several processes, such as acquisition, retention and inoculation, and a series of virus receptors or proteins are involved in the process. The ways of plant virus transmission consist of stylet-borne, foregut-borne and circulative types, which are nonpersistent, semipersistent and persistent, respectively. The acquisition access period, retention site and inoculation access period are different depending on different insect vectors. The procedure can be affected by many factors including sex and age of insect vectors, host plants, environmental conditions, and symbionts of insects. The main related proteins are as follows: coat protein, minor coat protein, GroEL, helper component and underside-jaw protein. In recent years, the research of plant virus genome has made a great progress, and the mechanism of the virus transmission has attracted an extensive attention. This article reviews the recent studies and developments of this field, including the ways of plant virus transmission vectored by insects, the factors influencing the efficiency of virus transmission, and the mechanisms of virus transmission, especially the possible receptors of the insects related to the virus transmission.

Key words: Plant viruses, insect vectors, virus transmission, virus receptors, molecular biology, endosymbiont