The small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus) as a vector of the rice stripe virus

The small brown planthopper, Laodelphax striatellus, is a destructive pest insect found in rice fields. L. striatellus not only directly feeds on the phloem sap of rice but also transmits various viruses, such as rice stripe virus (RSV) and rice black‐streaked dwarf virus, resulting in serious loss of rice production. RSV is a rice‐infecting virus that is found mainly in Korea, China, and Japan. To develop novel strategies to control L. striatellus and L. striatellus‐transmitted viruses, various studies have been conducted, based on vector biology, interactions between vectors and pathogens, and omics, including transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics. In this review, we discuss the roles of saliva proteins during phloem sap‐sucking and virus transmission, the diversity and role of the microbial community in L. striatellus, the profile and molecular mechanisms of insecticide resistance, classification of L. striatellus‐transmitted RSV, its host range and symptoms, its genome composition and roles of virus‐derived proteins, its distribution, interactions with L. striatellus, and resistance and control, to suggest future directions for integrated pest management to control L. striatellus and L. striatellus‐transmitted viruses. The small brown planthopper (Laodelphax striatellus) transmits rice stripe virus (RSV), resulting in a serious loss of rice production. In this review, we discuss the roles of saliva proteins, the diversity and role of the microbial community, insecticide resistance, classification of RSV, its host range and symptoms, its genome composition and roles of virus‐derived proteins, its distribution, interactions with L. striatellus, and resistance and control. Highlights Salivary proteins of Laodelphax striatellus play a critical role in phloem‐feeding and virus transmission. The microbial community harbored by L. striatellus was unaffected by viruses, including rice stripe virus (RSV), but was affected by one of alphaproteobacterial, Wolbachia. RSV has a total of four single‐strand RNA segments in its genome, and they encode seven proteins that play an important role in the interaction with host plants or insect vectors.