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Scientists have learned how plants keep viruses from being passed to their offspring, a finding that could ensure healthier crops. The discovery could also help reduce the transmission of diseases from mothers to human children.

Plant viruses are often able to spread from one country to another through the seed trade. As a result, parent-to-progeny disease transmission is of global concern.

"Viruses can hide in seeds for years, making this one of the most important issues in agriculture," said UC Riverside distinguished professor Shou-Wei Ding in the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology. Ding is corresponding author of a paper about the discovery in the journal Cell Host & Microbe.

When a mother plant with a virus makes, for example, 100 seeds, only between 0 and 5% of the seedlings are likely to become infected. For a century, scientists have wondered how the 'mothers' are able to stop the virus from spreading to all or most of the young plants.

The UCR-led team wanted to solve this mystery by pinpointing the immune pathway that prevents virus transmission from parent to progeny, also called vertical transmission. The team succeeded. The strategy they used, and the pathway they identified, are detailed in the paper.

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