Infectious and Rare Diseases

Plant and Agricultural Virology

Plant viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that do not have the molecular machinery to replicate without a host. These are pathogenic to higher plants. The first virus to be discovered was Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). Viruses cause an estimated US$60 billion loss in crop yields worldwide every year. Aquatic bacteriophages are viruses that live as obligate parasitic agents in marine bacteria such as cyanobacteria. Aquatic micro-organisms are able to prepare their own food through Photosynthesis.