Aset of 39 F1 Sitobion avenae clones was obtained by selfing a poorly efficient BYDV-PAV vector clone. These clones were genetically typed by 11 microsatellite loci, and tested for BYDV-PAV4 transmission to barley. The 39 clones displayed a continuum in transmission percentages, from 0% to 88% with a significant clone effect. From this set, two highly efficient (HEV) and two poorly efficient (PEV) vectoring clones were more precisely characterized for transmission of two other PAV isolates. The molecular bases of the lower transmissibility of BYDV-PAV4 by PEV clones and of the aphid vectoring properties were investigated respectively by comparing the sequences corresponding to structural proteins (CP and RTD) of BYDV, and by using proteomic analysis of aphids in two dimensional electrophoresis (2-DE) with immobilized pH gradients (IPG) after an improved protein extraction. Four residues specific to BYDV-PAV4 located in the CP sequence (A(24) and L(130)) or in the RTD region (M(334) and S(456)) could be responsible for the lower transmissibility of this isolate by PEV clones. Among a total of 2150 well-resoluted spots scored on S. avenae proteinic pattern, only twelve proteins were qualitatively or quantitatively different between clones. Four out of them discriminated HEV and PEV groups.