Rose Rosette Virus
Introduction
By Jacob Scharfetter
Rose rosette virus (RRV), also known as Rose rosette disease (RRD), is a viral plant pathogen. The symptoms of Rose Rosette Virus (RRV) was first recognized and recorded in Canada 77 years and has since become one of the most destructive diseases of commercial roses[1][2]. The plant pathogen RRV has only been found to affect the genus Rosa[3]. Most Rosa spp. are susceptible to RRV, making RRV a significant problem for landscapers and horticulturalists[4]. However, non-commercial, wild rose species of the Rosa genus, such as the meadow rose (R. blanda), swamp rose (R. palustris), Carolina rose (R. Carolina), prickly wild rose (R. acicularis), and burnet rose (R. spinosissima), show only minimal signs of susceptibility to RRV[4]. Currently, RRV is primarily distributed throughout the eastern United States ranging from the Eastern coasts of New England to the base of the Rocky Mountains[5]. In short, RRV is a destructive and highly lethal rose pathogen that expresses a significant threat to the commercial rose industry. This report seeks to highlight what we currently know about RRV and to highlight the areas where future research needs to be conducted.
Isolation History of RRV
The first indication that RRV was indeed a virus came when large virus-like particles were observed with scanning electron microscopy in Rosa multiflora and commercial roses in Northern Arkansas (Gergerich and Kim, 1983). In the same study, the double-membrane characteristic of the spherical envelope was observed for the large virus-like particles. The next breakthrough in the isolation of RRV came with the isolation of dsRNA from infected rose tissue (Di et al., 1990). dsRNA, being something that is prevalent and unique to viruses, strongly suggested that the causative agent for the rose rosette disease was a virus.
Up until 1995, rose rosette disease (RRD) was thought to be caused by a virus or a phytoplasma; a phytoplasma can be equally as small as a virus (Epstein and Hill, 1995). A phytoplasma was ruled out as the cause of rose rosette disease, by the lack of a DAPI DNA stain in isolated cells, no reversion in symptoms when plants were treated with tetracycline, and no amplification was detected using known primers of phytoplasmas via PCR analysis (Epstein and Hill, 1995).
The negative-sense RNA nature of RRV was finally elucidated in 2011, by using degenerate oligonucleotide primed reverse transcriptase PCR to amplify dsRNA (Laney et al., 2011). The purification of emaraviruses from inflected plants has been challenging to researchers due to the enveloped nature of the virus particles as well as by the low titre (Chulang Yu et al., 2013). This potentially explains why RRV and related emeraviruses were reported only having four genomic RNA segments rather than more (Mielke & Muehlbach 2007; Elbeaino et al., 2009; Laney et al., 2011). Recently, from more sensitive analysis another three RNA segments were isolated and detected in RRV (Di Bello et al., 2015). There are many things not fully understood about RRV. At the foremost of this list is the pathogenicity of RRV. Future studies need to be conducted in order to elucidate the mechanism of entry for RRV, the replication of RRV, and the possible latency of RRV.
Section 2
Include some current research, with at least one figure showing data.
Section 3
Include some current research, with at least one figure showing data.
Section 4
Conclusion
References
- ↑ Conners, I.L. Twentieth Annual Report of the Canadian Plant Disease Survey 1940; Department of Agriculture: Ottawa, Canada, 1941; p. 98.
- ↑ Laney A., Keller K., Martin R.,& Tzanetakis I. A discovery 70 years in the making: characterization of the Rose rosette virus. 01 July 2011, Journal of General Virology 92: 1727-, doi: 10.1099/vir.0.031146-0
- ↑ Dobhal, S., Olson, J. D., Arif, M., Suarez, J. A. G., & Ochoa-Corona, F. M. (2016). A simplified strategy for sensitive detection of Rose rosette virus compatible with three RT-PCR chemistries. Journal of virological methods, 232, 47-56. doi:10.1016/j.jviromet.2016.01.013
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Epstein, A.H., & Hill, J.H. (1999). Status of rose rosette disease as a biological control for multiflora rose. Plant disease, 83(2), 92-101. doi:10.1094/PDIS.1999.83.2.92
- ↑ Windham, M., Windham, A., Hale, F., & Amrine Jr, J. (2014). Observations on Rose rosette disease.
Authored for BIOL 238 Microbiology, taught by Joan Slonczewski, 2017, Kenyon College.