Scholthof Karen-Beth G
Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, 77843-2132, USA,
J Hist Biol. 2014 Spring;47(1):107-45. doi: 10.1007/s10739-013-9353-0.
In the early twentieth century, viruses had yet to be defined in a material way. Instead, they were known better by what they were not - not bacteria, not culturable, and not visible with a light microscope. As with the ill-defined "gene" of genetics, viruses were microbes whose nature had not been revealed. Some clarity arrived in 1929 when Francis O. Holmes, a scientist at the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (Yonkers, NY) reported that Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) could produce local necrotic lesions on tobacco plants and that these lesions were in proportion to dilutions of the inoculum. Holmes' method, the local lesion assay, provided the first evidence that viruses were discrete infectious particles, thus setting the stage for physicochemical studies of plant viruses. In a field where there are few eponymous methods or diseases, Holmes' assay continues to be a useful tool for the study of plant viruses. TMV was a success because the local lesion assay "made the virus visible" and standardized the work of virology towards determining the nature of the virus.
在20世纪初，病毒尚未以物质的方式被定义。相反，人们更多地是通过它们不是什么来了解它们——不是细菌，不可培养，在光学显微镜下不可见。与遗传学中定义不明确的“基因”一样，病毒是其本质尚未被揭示的微生物。1929年，情况有所明朗，当时位于纽约扬克斯的博伊斯·汤普森植物研究所的科学家弗朗西斯·O·霍姆斯报告称，烟草花叶病毒（TMV）可在烟草植株上产生局部坏死病斑，且这些病斑与接种物的稀释度成比例。霍姆斯的方法，即局部病斑测定法，首次证明病毒是离散的感染性颗粒，从而为植物病毒的物理化学研究奠定了基础。在一个几乎没有以人名命名的方法或疾病的领域，霍姆斯的测定法仍然是研究植物病毒的有用工具。TMV是一个成功案例，因为局部病斑测定法“使病毒可见”，并使病毒学工作标准化，以确定病毒的本质。
