Viral receptors of the gut: insect-borne propagative plant viruses of agricultural importance

•Viral infection routes within insect vectors are well established.•Identification of viral receptors on gut microvilli of insect is a major challenge.•Insect vector cell lines enable to enrich viral receptors.•Plant reoviruses use actin-based tubule motility to overcome gut barriers.

Insect-borne propagative plant viruses of agricultural importance are transmitted by sap-sucking insects. Although the infection routes of these viruses within the bodies of insect vectors are well established, cellular receptors on the microvilli, intercellular junctions, and basal lamina for mediating viral entry or spread in insect gut epithelium have not been well identified or characterized. Recent trends in the field are opening questions on how viruses exploit actin-based tubule motility to overcome insect gut epithelium barriers after viral entry in epithelium. Advances in insect cell lines, genome sequencing, reverse genetic systems and others not yet developed technologies are needed to find and characterize the counterpart receptors in vectors and to design strategies to interfere with viral transmission.