Studies on a virus found in the roots of certain normal-looking plants

Extract

An account is given of a virus which is present in the roots of a number of different plants. Plants which have been shown, so far, to contain the infective principle in the roots are several members of the Solanaceae, tomatoes, tobacco, etc.; of the Primulaceae, Polyanthus sp. and Primula obconica; of the Geraniaceae, zonal Pelargonium; and of the Compositae, the aster. Such plants show no indication of infection with the exception of Nicotiana tabacum and N. glutinosa, which may develop natural disease symptoms. These symptoms are usually confined to the two lowermost leaves and develop most frequently under conditions of low temperature and low light intensity. The virus never becomes completely systemic in any host plant and is generally restricted to the inoculated leaves. Experiments are described which show the virus to be present in the roots of tobacco plants which had given a negative virus reaction a few weeks earlier. The virus is found in the roots of tobacco plants arising from seed which has been heated to a temperature of 75° C., the thermal death-point of the virus in expressed sap being 72° C. All attempts to demonstrate the presence of the virus in the seed have proved negative.

Although no systematic study has been made, the range of plants susceptible to local infection in the leaves, by artificial inoculation, seems wide. Tests have shown that about 25 species of plants belonging to 10 families respond to inoculation with the virus.

Three possible explanations of the origin and spread of the infection are discussed.