Open Access

Plant Virus

Plant viruses are viruses that affect plants. Such as all other viruses plant viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that do not have the molecular machinery to replicate without a host. Plant viruses can be pathogenic to higher plants. Most plant viruses are rod-shaped with protein discs forming a tube surrounding the viral genome; isometric particles are another common structure. They rarely have an envelope. The great majorities have an RNA genome, which is usually small and single-stranded (ss), but some viruses have double-stranded (ds) RNA, ssDNA or dsDNA genomes. Although plant viruses are not as well understood as their animal counterparts, one plant virus has become iconic: tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), the first virus to be discovered.

Top