W. Allen Miller, Sijun Liu and Randy Beckett
351 Bessey Hall, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa 50011, USA
| Taxonomy: | BYDV is in genus Luteovirus, family Luteoviridae. BYDV includes at least two serotypes or viruses: BYDV-PAV and BYDV-MAV. The former BYDV-RPV is now Cereal yellow dwarf virus-RPV (CYDV-RPV). CYDV is in genus Polerovirus, family Luteoviridae. Genus Luteovirus shares many features with family Tombusviridae. |
| Physical properties: | 25 nm icosahedral (T = 3) virions. One major (22 kDa) and one minor (50-55 kDa) coat protein. 5.6-5.8 kb positive sense RNA genome with no 5′-cap and no poly(A) tail. |
| Host Range: | Most grasses. Most important in oats, barley and wheat. Also infects maize and rice. |
| Disease symptoms: | Yellowing and dwarfing in barley, stunting in wheat; reddening, yellowing and blasting in oats. Some isolates cause leaf notching and curling. |
| Key attractions: | Model for the study of circulative transmission of aphid-transmitted viruses. Plethora of unusual translation mechanisms. Evidence of recombination in recent evolutionary history creates taxonomic ambiguity. Economically important virus of wheat, barley and oats, worldwide. |
| Useful meetings / web sites: | International symposium: Barley Yellow Dwarf Disease: Recent Advances and Future Strategies’, CIMMYT, El Batan, Mexico, 1-5 September 2002. |
