Legg J P, Fauquet C M
IITA Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Centre, P.O. Box 7878, Kampala, Uganda.
Plant Mol Biol. 2004 Nov;56(4):585-99. doi: 10.1007/s11103-004-1651-7.
Cassava mosaic disease (CMD) caused by cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMGs) (Geminiviridae:Begomovirus) is undoubtedly the most important constraint to the production of cassava in Africa at the outset of the 21st century. Although the disease was recorded for the first time in the latter part of the 19th century, for much of the intervening period it has been relatively benign in most of the areas where it occurs and has generally been considered to be of minor economic significance. Towards the end of the 20th century, however, the inherent dynamism of the causal viruses was demonstrated, as a recombinant hybrid of the two principal species was identified, initially from Uganda, and shown to be associated with an unusually severe and rapidly spreading epidemic of CMD. Subsequent spread throughout East and Central Africa, the consequent devastation of production of the cassava crop, a key staple in much of this region, and the observation of similar recombination events elsewhere, has once again demonstrated the inherent danger posed to man by the capacity of these viruses to adapt to their environment and optimally exploit their relationships with the whitefly vector, plant host and human cultivator. In this review of cassava mosaic geminiviruses in Africa, we examine each of these relationships, and highlight the ways in which the CMGs have exploited them to their own advantage.
木薯花叶病毒（双生病毒科：菜豆金色花叶病毒属）引起的木薯花叶病（CMD）无疑是21世纪初非洲木薯生产面临的最重要限制因素。尽管该病在19世纪后期首次被记录，但在其后的大部分时间里，在其发生的大多数地区相对温和，一般被认为经济意义不大。然而，到20世纪末，致病病毒的内在活力得到了证明，因为最初在乌干达发现了两种主要病毒的重组杂种，并显示其与异常严重且迅速蔓延的CMD疫情有关。随后在东非和中非的传播、该地区大部分地区的主要主食木薯作物生产遭到的破坏，以及在其他地方观察到的类似重组事件，再次证明了这些病毒适应环境并最佳利用其与粉虱载体、植物宿主和人类种植者关系的能力给人类带来的固有危险。在这篇关于非洲木薯花叶双生病毒的综述中，我们研究了这些关系中的每一种，并强调了木薯花叶病毒利用这些关系为自身谋利的方式。
