Molecular Plant Pathology - Pathogen Profiles
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Cauliflower mosaic virus: still in the news
Muriel Haas, Marina Bureau, Angèle Geldreich, Pierre Yot and Mario Keller
Institut de Biologie Moléculaire des Plantes CNRS, Université Louis
Pasteur, 12 rue du Général Zimmer, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France
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| Taxonomic relationship: |
Cauliflower mosaic virus
(CaMV) is the type member of the Caulimovirus genus in the Caulimoviridae
family, which comprises five other genera. CaMV replicates its DNA genome
by reverse transcription of a pregenomic RNA and thus belongs to the
pararetrovirus supergroup, which includes the Hepadnaviridae family
infecting vertebrates. |
| Physical properties: |
Virions are non-enveloped isometric
particles, 53 nm in diameter (Fig. 1). They are constituted by
420 capsid protein subunits organized following T= 7 icosahedral
symmetry (Cheng, R.H., Olson, N.H. and Baker, T.S. (1992) Cauliflower
mosaic virus: a 420 subunit (T= 7), multilayer structure. Virology,
16, 655-668). The genome consists of a double-stranded circular DNA of
approximately 8000 bp that is embedded in the inner surface of the
capsid. |
| Viral proteins: |
The CaMV genome encodes six
proteins, a cell-to-cell movement protein (P1), two aphid transmission
factors (P2 and P3), the precursor of the capsid proteins (P4), a
polyprotein precursor of proteinase, reverse transcriptase and
ribonuclease H (P5) and an inclusion body protein/translation
transactivator (P6). |
| Hosts: |
The host range of CaMV is limited
to plants of the Cruciferae family, i.e. Brassicae species
and Arabidopsis thaliana, but some viral strains can also infect
solanaceous plants. In nature, CaMV is transmitted by aphids in a
non-circulative manner. |
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Electron micrograph of CaMV virions.
Courtesy of J. Menissier de Murcia, Ecole
Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg.
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