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Scientists isolate world's oldest recorded plant virus
April 25, 2003A Japanese poem written by Empress Koken, in the summer of 752AD, is thought to be the world's first record of a plant virus. Scientists from the John Innes Centre in Norwich (JIC)(1) have today reported, for the first time, the isolation and characterisation of the plant virus (eupatorium yellow vein virus - EpYVV(2) that causes the spectacular and beautiful symptoms first described by the Empress. The findings are reported in the international scientific journal Nature.
"Eupatorium plants in Japan frequently show striking yellow net-like patterns in their foliage that resemble autumn colouring, but in mid-summer" says Dr John Stanley (leader of the research group at JIC). "The ancient Japanese valued the beautiful effects caused by the virus, but the virus itself has proved to be of scientific interest because it includes both the main virus component and a satellite component - and both are involved in infection and symptom development".
Most plant viruses consist only of a main component and have no satellite component associated with them. However, it is now clear that the geminiviruses are often associated with a satellite component to form a disease complex. Understanding how these virus complexes evolve and contribute to the diversity of virus diseases is potentially very significant in understanding how to combat virus diseases. Geminiviruses cause serious diseases in a wide range of important crops throughout Africa and Asia, although EpYVV seems to be of largely aesthetic importance, because of the beauty of its symptoms.
John Innes Centre
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