BOT 101

DIVERSITY OF
PLANTS
TOPIC:
VIRUSES
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2024
 Introduction
• A Virus is an infectious agent of small size and simple composition that
can multiply only in living cells of animals, plants, or bacteria.
• Viruses are nucleoprotein complexes that rely on specific hosts for their
propagation.
• Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms,
including bacteria and archaea.
• Viruses are the smallest of all the microbes. They are capable of passing
through bacterial filter.
• They are unique because they are only alive and able to multiply inside the
cells of other living things. The cell they multiply in is called the host cell.
• In the 1940s, the development of the electron microscope permitted
individual virus particles to be seen for the first time, leading to the
classification of viruses and giving insight into their structure.
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 Introduction (cont’d)
• A virus is made up of a core of genetic material, either DNA or RNA,
surrounded by a protective coat called a capsid which is made up of protein.
• Viruses are found in almost every ecosystem on Earth.
• The study of viruses is known as virology.
• Viruses were discovered by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892.
• In its infective form, outside the cell, a virus particle is called a virion.
• All viruses contain nucleic acid, either DNA or RNA (but not both), and a
protein coat called Capsid, which encases the nucleic acid. Some viruses are
also enclosed by an envelope of lipid and protein molecules.

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 Introduction (cont’d)
• Viruses depend on the host cell for almost all of their life-sustaining
functions.
• Existence of their life is completely dependent upon any other living cells.
• Outside the living cell they remain inactive and look dead.
• As soon as they enter the living cell they destroy the normal functioning
and mechanism of the living cell and then starts replicating and multiply
their numbers.
• They do not fall under any type of cellular grade of body organisation
(either unicellular or multicellular)

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 Introduction (cont’d)
• Viruses are also energy parasites; unlike cells, they cannot generate
or store energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP).
• The virus derives energy, as well as all other metabolic functions,
from the host cell.
• The invading virus uses the nucleotides and amino acids of the host
cell to synthesize its nucleic acids and proteins, respectively.
• Some viruses use the lipids and sugar chains of the host cell to form
their membranes and glycoproteins (proteins linked to short
polymers consisting of several sugars).
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 History of Viruses
• The scientific study of viruses and the infections they cause began in the closing
years of the 19th century.
• Although Louis Pasteur and Edward Jenner developed the first vaccines to
protect against viral infections, they did not know that viruses existed.
• The first evidence of the existence of viruses came from experiments with filters
that had pores small enough to retain bacteria.
• In 1892, Dmitri Ivanovsky used one of these filters to show that sap from a
diseased tobacco plant remained infectious to healthy tobacco plants despite
having been filtered.
• Martinus Beijerinck called the filtered, infectious substance a "virus" and this
discovery is considered to be the beginning of virology.
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 History of Viruses (cont’d)
• Beijerinck first surmised that the virus under study was a
new kind of infectious agent, which he designated
contagium vivum fluidum, meaning that it was a live,
reproducing organism that differed from other organisms.
• Both of these investigators found that a disease of tobacco
plants could be transmitted by an agent, later called
tobacco mosaic virus, passing through a minute filter
that would not allow the passage of bacteria.
• This virus and those subsequently isolated would not grow 7

on an artificial medium and were not visible under the

light microscope.
 Host Range and Distribution of
Virus
• Viruses are by far the most abundant biological entities on Earth and they
outnumber all the others put together. They infect all types of cellular life
including animals, plants, bacteria and fungi.
• Virtually all plant viruses are transmitted by insects or other organisms
(vectors) that feed on plants. The hosts of animal viruses vary from protozoans
(single-celled animal organisms) to humans. Many viruses infect either
invertebrate animals or vertebrates, and some infect both. Certain viruses
that cause serious diseases of animals and humans are carried by arthropods.
These vector-borne viruses multiply in both the invertebrate vector and
the vertebrate host.
• Certain viruses are limited in their host range to the various orders
of vertebrates. Some viruses appear to be adapted for growth only
in ectothermic vertebrates (animals commonly referred to as cold-blooded,
such as fishes and reptiles), possibly because they can reproduce only at
low temperatures. Other viruses are limited in their host range8 to
endothermic vertebrates (animals commonly referred to as warm-blooded,
such as mammals).
 Size of Viruses
• The amount and arrangement of the proteins and nucleic acid of
viruses determine their size and shape.
• In general, viruses are much smaller than bacteria.
• Most viruses vary in diameter from 20 nanometres to 250–400 nm; the
largest, however, measure about 500 nm in diameter and are about
700–1,000 nm in length.
• Only the largest and most complex viruses can be seen under the light
microscope at the highest resolution. Any determination of the size of a
virus also must take into account its shape, since different classes of
viruses have distinctive shapes.
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 Shapes / Structure of Viruses
• Based on the nature of the capsid, viruses may broadly be
classified as
Helical: may be either rigid rods or filamentous, and are most
common among plant viruses e.g. Tobacco Mosaic Virus
Polyhedral
Complex
• Other forms of classification include:
• Prolate
• Enveloped
• Bacilliform, or bullet-shaped
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 Classification of Viruses

• In 1962, André Lwoff, Robert Horne, and Paul Tournier were the first to
develop a means of virus classification, based on the Linnaean hierarchical
system. This system based classification on phylum, class, order, family,
genus, and species. Viruses were grouped according to their shared
properties (not those of their hosts) and the type of nucleic acid forming
their genomes. In 1966, the International Committee on Taxonomy of
Viruses (ICTV) was formed.
• Only a small part of the total diversity of viruses have been studied. As of
2020, 6 realms, 10 kingdoms, 17 phyla, 2 subphyla, 39 classes, 59 orders, 8
suborders, 189 families, 136 subfamilies, 2,224 genera, 70 subgenera, and
9,110 species of viruses have been defined by the ICTV.
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 Steps of Virus Infections
• Viral infection involves the incorporation of viral DNA into a host cell, replication of
that material, and the release of the new viruses. This is done in 6 steps: Attachment,
Penetration, Uncoating, Replication, Assembly and Release.
• Attachment is a specific binding between viral capsid proteins and specific
receptors on the host cellular surface.
• Penetration or viral entry follows attachment: Virions enter the host cell through
membrane fusion. The infection of plant and fungal cells is different from that of
animal cells. Plants have a rigid cell wall made of cellulose, so most viruses can get
inside these cells only after trauma to the cell wall.
• Uncoating is a process in which the viral capsid is removed.
• Replication of viruses involves primarily multiplication of the genome.
• Assembly occurs following the structure-mediated self-assembly of the virus
particles, some modification of the proteins often occurs.
• Release of viruses from the host cell is by lysis, a process that kills the cell by
bursting its membrane and cell wall if present: this is a feature of many bacterial12 and
some animal viruses.
 Plant Viruses
• Plant viruses are viruses that affect plants. Like 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. They rarely have an
envelope.
• Examples of plant viruses are Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV),
Potato viruses, Cucumber mosaic viruses, Tomato spotted wilt
virus (TSWV), Tobacco ringspot virus, Tobacco rattle virus and
Bean common mosaic virus.
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 Economic Importance of viruses
• Viruses are used in the preparation of vaccine for different diseases such
as: jaundice, pox, mumps, etc.
• Transgenic plant vaccine
• They are used in the genetic engineering.
• Bacteriophages are used in the preservation of water and they are
capable of destroying bacteria and keeping water fresh.
• They can also be used for biological warfare for human societies.
• They plays a very important role in the treatment of cancer and also in
gene therapy.
• Weed biocontrol.
• Pest biocontrol.
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 Management of Plant Viruses
• Development of host resistance through conventional breeding
or development of transgenic plants.
• Strengthen plant quarantine stations dealing with bulk samples
in terms of manpower, infrastructure and expertise in detection
of viruses and their strains in bulk samples.
• Undertake regular survey and surveillance program to get a
realistic picture of the status of viral diseases in the country.
• Develop a mechanism for distribution or sale of virus-free
seeds/plants/planting material within the country.
• Creation of database on all viral diseases, including information
on host range, geographical distribution, strains, etc. 15

• Remote sensing to predict outbreaks of viral diseases.