The most economically important biotic stresses in crop production are caused by fungi, oomycetes, insects, viruses, and bacteria. Often chemical control is still the most commonly used method to manage them. However, the development of resistance in the different pathogens/pests, the putative damage on the natural ecosystem, the toxic residues in the field, and, thus, the contamination of the environment have stimulated the search for saferalternatives such as the use of biological control agents (BCAs). Among BCAs, viruses, a major driver for controlling host populations and evolution, are somewhat underused, mostly because of regulatory hurdles that make the cost of registration of such host-specific BCAs not affordable in comparison with the limited potential market. Here, we provide a comprehensive overview of the state of the art of virus-based BCAs against fungi, bacteria, viruses, and insects, with a specific focus on new approaches that rely on not only the direct biocidal virus component but also the complex ecological interactions between viruses and their hosts that do not necessarily result in direct damage to the host.

中文翻译：

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病毒式传播：基于病毒的植物保护生物防治剂

作物生产中经济上最重要的生物胁迫是由真菌、卵菌、昆虫、病毒和细菌引起的。通常化学控制仍然是最常用的管理方法。然而，不同病原体/害虫的抗药性的发展、对自然生态系统的假定破坏、田间的有毒残留以及环境污染都刺激了人们寻找更安全的替代方案，例如使用生物防治代理商 (BCA)。在 BCA 中，病毒作为控制宿主种群和进化的主要驱动力，但在某种程度上并未得到充分利用，主要是因为监管障碍使得与有限的潜在市场相比，此类宿主特异性 BCA 的注册成本难以承受。在这里，我们全面概述了针对真菌、细菌、病毒和昆虫的基于病毒的 BCA 的最新技术，特别关注不仅依赖于直接杀菌病毒成分，而且还依赖于复杂的生态系统的新方法。病毒与其宿主之间的相互作用不一定会对宿主造成直接损害。