Tobamovirus-plant interactions.

It is clear that the genetic information responsible for the phenomenon we think of as TMV not only consists of the genes carried in the viral genome, but that numerous plant genes are equally important in viral gene functions. These gene products not only allow the virus to replicate, but may effect functions of evolution that determine what the virus is. Even the processes of pathogenesis and resistance appear to involve similarly precise plant interactions. The challenge of the future is to identify the plant genes involved in these precise interactions and to understand both components of genetic information that comprise plant viruses.