The elephant in the genome: Cryptic infection by giant viruses
Plant Science Research WeeklyEukaryotic genomes contain many endogenous viral elements (EVEs), which are genetic footprints of past viral infections. With the discovery of Nucleocytoplasmic Large DNA Viruses (NCLDVs), or giant viruses, research has turned to exploring how giant endogenous viral elements (GEVEs) shape host genomes.…
Mechanism by which viruses are excluded from plant stem cells
Plant Science Research WeeklyHorticulturalists have long used the technique of meristem culture to propagate plants, as meristems are generally considered to be free of viruses. However, the mechanism by which the stem cells in meristems exclude viruses has been unclear. Here, Incarbone and Bradamante et al. identified roles for…
tter gourd protein for defense against plant viral diseases
Plant Science Research WeeklyBitter gourds (or bitter melon) have been a childhood nightmare of mine. I remember that as a child, my grandparents used to force me to consume these really bitter gourds (Momordica charantia) telling me that they had ‘many benefits’. In addition to being a rich source of antioxidants, M. charantia…
Arabidopsis latent virus 1, a comovirus widely spread in Arabidopsis thaliana collections (New Phytol)
Plant Science Research WeeklyArabidopsis thaliana has been established as a versatile and important model plant species, with abundant genetic and genomic resources. Through RNA sequencing, Verhoeven et al. identified an unexpected and previously unnoticed latent comovirus (the name “como” derives from cowpea mosaic virus) lurking…