Pennazio S, Conti M
Istituto di Virologia vegetale del CNR, Torino, Italy.
New Microbiol. 2002 Oct;25(4):499-518.
Plant virology, born with Mayer's work, saw a first (embryonic) phase of development during two decades (1900-1920) with outstanding contributions from Dimitri Ivanovski, Martinus Beijerinck, Erwin Baur and Harry Allard. Between 1920 and 1930 a second phase saw the elaboration of surprising hypotheses concerning the enigmatic nature of viruses and experimental evidence of great stress was obtained. Revolutionary renewal began from the mid-1930s on the basis of a body of knowledge which was organically assembled into the first textbook of plant virology published by Kenneth Smith in 1933. In 1922, the geneticist Hermann Muller put forward the hypothesis that considered viruses as possible genes. The theory was resumed in an apparently independent way by Benjamin Duggar and Joanne Karrer Armstrong in 1923, who considered TMV a biocolloidal self-reproducing protein, like genes appeared to be. This hypothesis, even if neglected by virologists, anticipated by some decades the functional nature of viruses and represented the first conceptual response to virus enigma. Considerable experimental results were obtained by James Johnson, who showed that plants could be infected by different viruses and who introduced a first rational system of plant virus classification. Harold McKinney showed that TMV could mutate. Harold Storey, Kenneth Smith and Harry Severin demonstrated that several viruses could be transmitted by insects and supplied the first interpretation of the relationship between virus and insect. Mayme Dvorak and Helen Purdy obtained the first experimental evidence of the antigenic power of plant viruses. Virus purification, first tentatively accomplished with physical methods, was brilliantly performed by chemical means. Finally, Francis Holmes elaborated the first suitable test to estimate virus infectivity. The evolution of plant virology from an empirical discipline to a biological science took place thanks to the work of one group of American and English scientists who must be regarded as the fathers of modern plant virology.
植物病毒学诞生于迈尔的研究工作，在20年（1900 - 1920年）间经历了第一个（萌芽）发展阶段，迪米特里·伊万诺夫斯基、马丁努斯·贝杰林克、埃尔温·鲍尔和哈里·阿拉德都做出了杰出贡献。1920年至1930年间进入第二阶段，出现了关于病毒神秘本质的惊人假说，并获得了极具说服力的实验证据。20世纪30年代中期开始了革命性的革新，其基础是一系列知识，这些知识被有机整合进肯尼斯·史密斯于1933年出版的第一本植物病毒学教科书中。1922年，遗传学家赫尔曼·穆勒提出将病毒视为可能的基因这一假说。1923年，本杰明·达格和乔安妮·卡勒·阿姆斯特朗以一种看似独立的方式重拾该理论，他们认为烟草花叶病毒是一种生物胶体自我复制蛋白，就像基因似乎是这样。这个假说，尽管被病毒学家忽视，但提前几十年预见了病毒的功能本质，是对病毒谜团的首次概念性回应。詹姆斯·约翰逊取得了大量实验成果，他证明植物可被不同病毒感染，并引入了首个合理的植物病毒分类系统。哈罗德·麦金尼表明烟草花叶病毒会发生变异。哈罗德·斯托里、肯尼斯·史密斯和哈里·塞韦林证明几种病毒可通过昆虫传播，并首次解释了病毒与昆虫之间的关系。梅米·德沃拉克和海伦·珀迪获得了植物病毒抗原性的首个实验证据。病毒纯化最初尝试用物理方法完成，后来通过化学方法出色地实现了。最后，弗朗西斯·霍姆斯精心设计了首个合适的测试来评估病毒感染力。植物病毒学从一门经验学科发展成为一门生物科学，这要归功于一群美国和英国科学家的工作，他们必须被视为现代植物病毒学之父。
