Biotechnology Applications of Grapevine Viruses

Plant virus genomes are engineered as vectors for functional genomics and production of foreign proteins. The application of plant virus vectors is of potential interest to the worldwide, multibillion dollar, grape and wine industries. These applications include grapevine functional genomics, pathogen control, and production of beneficial proteins such as vaccines and enzymes. However, grapevine virus biology exerts certain limitations on the utility of the virus-derived gene expression and RNA interference vectors. As is typical for viruses infecting woody plants, several grapevine viruses exhibit prolonged infection cycles and relatively low overall accumulation levels, mainly because of their phloem-specific pattern of systemic infection. Here we consider the biotechnology potential of grapevine virus vectors with a special emphasis on members of the families Closteroviridae and Betaflexiviridae.