Diener Theodor O
University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2003 Oct;1(1):75-80. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro736.
During 1970 and 1971, I discovered that a devastating disease of potato plants is not caused by a virus, as had been assumed, but by a new type of subviral pathogen, the viroid. Viroids are so small--one fiftieth of the size of the smallest viruses--that many scientists initially doubted their existence. We now know that viroids cause many damaging diseases of crop plants. Fortunately, new methods that are based on the unique properties of viroids now promise effective control.
在1970年至1971年期间，我发现一种对马铃薯植株具有毁灭性的病害并非如人们此前所认为的那样由病毒引起，而是由一种新型亚病毒病原体——类病毒所致。类病毒非常微小——仅为最小病毒大小的五十分之一——以至于许多科学家最初怀疑它们的存在。我们现在知道类病毒会引发许多危害农作物的病害。幸运的是，基于类病毒独特特性的新方法有望实现有效防控。
