Re: Is every virus Bad?

dave evans (T442119@RUTADMIN.RUTGERS.EDU)
Fri, 16 Feb 96 21:58 EST

> From: trigg@JANE.CS.WAIKATO.AC.NZ(Len Trigg)
>
> I was talking to someone last night about virii in CP's. She
> knows a couple of people who are into orchids and CP's, and who
> found out that some/most of their (wild collected, I believe) Neps
> had some virus. I guess because they didn't want to risk infection
> of their orchids, they immediately burnt all the Neps (some of
> which were the only specimens in the country).

Could you give us a little more info here? Like how did they find
out their Neps had a virus? Were there symptoms? If so what?

> Is it possible for an entire species of Nep (pick one with a
> small distribution) to be infected with a virus?

Yes! Or maybe: Why not? Seriously though, If it is a virus
that is not fatal or causes much illness *and* can past from
the mother plant to the seeds I say the answer is a Yes.

> Is is possible to eliminate the virus from a plant (at least
> propagate it in such a way that the virus doesn't get carried)?
> (Are virii carried with pollen? - maybe we could think of endemic
> virii almost like mitochondria)

Don't know, but most plant viruses do not past from the
mother to the seed.

Dave Evans