Viroids are small single-stranded, circular RNAs that are infectious pathogens. Unlike viruses, they have no protein coating. All known viroids are inhabitants of angiosperms, and most cause diseases, whose respective economic importance to humans varies widely. A recent metatranscriptomics study suggests that the host diversity of viroids and other viroid-like elements is broader than previously thought and that it would not be limited to plants, encompassing even the prokaryotes.
Virus classification is the process of naming viruses and placing them into a taxonomic system similar to the classification systems used for cellular organisms.
Virusoids are circular single-stranded RNA(s) dependent on viruses for replication and encapsidation. The genome of virusoids consists of several hundred (200–400) nucleotides and does not code for any proteins.
A satellite is a subviral agent that depends on the coinfection of a host cell with a helper virus for its replication. Satellites can be divided into two major classes: satellite viruses and satellite nucleic acids. Satellite viruses, which are most commonly associated with plants, are also found in mammals, arthropods, and bacteria. They encode structural proteins to enclose their genetic material, which are therefore distinct from the structural proteins of their helper viruses. Satellite nucleic acids, in contrast, do not encode their own structural proteins, but instead are encapsulated by proteins encoded by their helper viruses. The genomes of satellites range upward from 359 nucleotides in length for satellite tobacco ringspot virus RNA (STobRV).
Theodor Otto Diener was a Swiss-American plant pathologist. In 1971, he discovered that the causative agent of the potato spindle tuber disease is not a virus, but a novel agent, which consists solely of a short strand of single-stranded RNA without a protein capsid, eighty times smaller than the smallest viruses. He proposed to name it, and similar agents yet to be discovered, viroids. Viroids displaced viruses as the smallest known infectious agents.
Nanoviridae is a family of viruses. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are currently 12 species in this family, divided among 2 genera and one unassigned species. Diseases associated with this family include: stunting. Their name is derived from the Greek word νᾶνος, because of their small genome and their stunting effect on infected plants.
Tombusviridae is a family of single-stranded positive sense RNA plant viruses. There are three subfamilies, 17 genera, and 95 species in this family. The name is derived from Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV).
Rolling circle replication (RCR) is a process of unidirectional nucleic acid replication that can rapidly synthesize multiple copies of circular molecules of DNA or RNA, such as plasmids, the genomes of bacteriophages, and the circular RNA genome of viroids. Some eukaryotic viruses also replicate their DNA or RNA via the rolling circle mechanism.
Tombusvirus is a genus of viruses, in the family Tombusviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are 17 species in this genus. Symptoms associated with this genus include mosaic. The name of the genus comes from Tomato bushy stunt virus.
Closterovirus, also known as beet yellows viral group, is a genus of viruses, in the family Closteroviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are 17 species in this genus. Diseases associated with this genus include: yellowing and necrosis, particularly affecting the phloem. This genus has a probably worldwide distribution and includes among other viral species the Beet yellows virus and Citrus tristeza virus, rather economically important plant diseases. At least some species require vectors such as aphids or mealybugs for their transmission from plant to plant.
Peach latent mosaic viroid is a species of the genus Pelamoviroid, which belongs to the family Avsunviroidae. This family is characterized as having chloroplastic viroids with hammerhead ribozymes. Peach latent mosaic viroid is a 336-351nt circular RNA which has a branched formation. This branched formation is stabilised by a pseudoknot between two kissing loops. Peach latent mosaic viroid was first described in the 1980s in Spain by a group of scientists.
The Avsunviroidae are a family of viroids. There are four species in three genera. They consist of RNA genomes between 246 and 375 nucleotides in length. They are single-stranded covalent circles and have intramolecular base pairing. All members lack a central conserved region.
Ilarvirus is a genus of positive-strand RNA viruses in the family Bromoviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are 22 species in this genus.
Cucumovirus is a genus of viruses, in the family Bromoviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are four species in this genus.
The hop stunt viroid is a viroid species that infects the common hop plant, citrus plants, grapevines, cucumber, and several Prunus species such as almond, apricot, plum, and peach. It is asymptomatic or latent in most host plants, but in some hosts it can cause stunting and other symphtoms. A study of HSVd-infected hops in the USA showed that the severity of yield reduction was highly dependent on the infected hop cultivar.
Hostuviroid is a genus of ssRNA viroids that includes Hop stunt viroid, a species of viroids that infects many different types of plants, including the common hop plant. It belongs to the family Pospiviroidae.
Cadang-cadang is a disease caused by Coconut cadang-cadang viroid (CCCVd), a lethal viroid of several palms including coconut, African oil palm, anahaw, and buri. The name cadang-cadang comes from the word gadang-gadang that means dying in Bicol. It was originally reported on San Miguel Island in the Philippines in 1927/1928. "By 1962, all but 100 of 250,000 palms on this island had died from the disease," indicating an epidemic. Every year one million coconut palms are killed by CCCVd and over 30 million coconut palms have been killed since Cadang-cadang was discovered. CCCVd directly affects the production of copra, a raw material for coconut oil and animal feed. Total losses of about 30 million palms and annual yield losses of about 22,000 metric tons of copra have been attributed to Cadang-cadang disease in the Philippines.
Marafivirus is a genus of viruses in the order Tymovirales, in the family Tymoviridae. Plants serve as natural hosts. There are 11 species in this genus.
In virology, realm is the highest taxonomic rank established for viruses by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), which oversees virus taxonomy. Six virus realms are recognized and united by specific highly conserved traits:
Retrozymes are a family of retrotransposons first discovered in the genomes of plants but now also known in genomes of animals. Retrozymes contain a hammerhead ribozyme (HHR) in their sequences, although they do not possess any coding regions. Retrozymes are nonautonomous retroelements, and so borrow proteins from other elements to move into new regions of a genome. Retrozymes are actively transcribed into covalently closed circular RNAs and are detected in both polarities, which may indicate the use of rolling circle replication in their lifecycle.
