Abstract
MOST of the detailed work on the nature of the virus agent has been carried out on the virus of the mosaic disease of tobacco. This virus is very easily obtainable in a fairly pure condition, is easily inoculable by rubbing virus preparations into healthy tissues and is resistant to storage and to chemical treatment. This resistance to ageing makes it possible to store the virus in vitro in powder form or in liquids over periods of years, and its presence as an active pathogen is easily demonstrable quantitatively as well as qualitatively by the use of the host-plant Nicotiana glutinosa, the leaves of which develop local lesions after being rubbed with virus material. It has long been known that there is a definite relationship between the number of lesions and the amount of virus present in the inoculum.
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Caldwell, J. The Agent of Virus Disease in Plants. Nature 138, 1065–1066 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/1381065a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1381065a0
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