| Summary: | In this volume, the authors provide an excellent overview of how far the plant viral vector field has come. This discipline is no longer exclusively the domain of academics − there is a small, but growing number of small biotechnology companies that exploit plant viruses as a platform for commercial innovation in crop improvement, industrial product manufacturing, and human and veterinary health care. The authors, who work in the plant viral “vectorology” field, have Bill Dawson to thank in some way for their scientific pedigree, and they are honored that he contributed the opening chapter of this volume with the history of plant virus vector development: “A vector is not a virus; it is a device designed to perform a specific function.” Other contributors have provided fascinating reviews of how plant viral vectors have been adapted to serve specific functions, from plant gene function discovery to nanotechnology, providing infinitely scalable manufacturing systems valuablefor human therapeutics.
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