ESSENTIALS

of

VIROLOGY

S. Ram Reddy
Department of Microbiology, Kakatiya University, Warangal (India)
S. M. Reddy
Department of Botany, Kakatiya University, Warangal (India)
Published by:

Scientific Publishers (India) Branch Office

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Jodhpur 342 001 (India)
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Scientific Publishers (India)
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Print: 2012

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Disclaimer: Whereas every effort has been made to avoid errors and omissions, this
publication is being sold on the understanding that neither the author nor the publishers
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rectifying it in future editions, if published.

ISBN: 978-81-7233-473-4 (H.B.)

978-81-7233-494-9 (P.B.)
eISBN: 978-93-86347-56-5

© Reddy & Reddy, 2007

Printed in India
 PREFACE

Virology, in less than hundred years of organized scientific investig-

ations, has grown leaps and bounds and ramified into all the disciplines of
biology. New information is pouring in at an accelerated pace. Modern
disciplines like molecular biology, biotechnology have enriched themselves
borrowing much of information from virology. It has wide applications both in
basic and applied sciences. Fortunately, excellent advanced treatises are
available on the subject providing the latest information from time-to-time.
However, a book that can provide basic and holistic information of all viruses
to a beginner is a long-felt need. Through this book we made a humble effort
to build a strong conceptual foundation of virology so that interested students
can navigate through the advanced treatises.
The subject matter of this book is presented in four parts. Part-I deals
with history, principles, and taxonomy of viruses. Part-II deals with the
biology of bacteriophages. Different aspects of plant viruses are presented in
part-III. Part-IV is devoted to animal and human viruses. Mycoviruses,
phycoviruses, subviral agents, viroids and prions are introduced in the last
part. Though, a wealth of information is available on the subject, keeping in
view the scope of the book, we have restricted subject matter to certain limits.
The subject matter has been presented in a lucid style well supported by
figures, illustrations, tables and graphs so that it could be used for both
teaching and learning.
We hope that the contents of the book fulfill the needs of undergraduate
and post-graduate students of all biological disciplines including agriculture,
veterinary, pharmacy and medicine. We have taken every possible care to
present the subject matter in factual form. Nevertheless, human errors are
likely to creep in inadvertently. We look forward to our teacher fraternity to
point out such errors and also to give constructive suggestions for the
improvement of this look in future.

24th December, 2006 Authors

Warangal.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The publication of a book of this kind requires the help and

contributions from many people besides the authors. This venture would not
have begun were it not for the initial encouragement we received from Late
Prof. M.V. Nayudu, Department of Virology, Sri Venkateswara University,
Tirupati (A.P). He was instrumental in inducting us into this subject. We
also are thankful to Prof. P. Srinivasulu and Prof. D.V.R. Sai Gopal,
Department of Virology, Sri Venkateswara University for his encouragement
and critically going through the manuscript and offering many suggestions
for the improvement of subject matter.
Our teaching for the last three decades to undergraduate and post-
graduate students has widened the horizons and increased the depth of the
subject. Classroom teaching, seminars and discussions with students have
really made us to realize the necessity to bring out a comprehensive book on
this subject. Their response to course curriculum was instrumental in its
conversion to a text. Thus our student community deserves a pat of
appreciation.
We have consulted a large number of reference books, original research
papers and review articles available on the subject and liberally borrowed the
subject matter, figures, illustrations etc. We express our indebtedness to the
publishers and authors of these sources. The partial financial assistance in
the form of publication grant received from University Grants Commission,
New Delhi is gratefully acknowledged.
We wish to extend appreciation to our families for their patience and
encouragement during the preparation of the book
Finally, but most important, we are thankful to Shri Pawan Kumar,
Scientific Publishers (India) Jodhpur, and Shri Rajesh Ojha (DTP type
setter) for bringing out this book timely and in an excellent format.
 FOREWORD

The science of virology has become more relevant than ever before.
Emerging viral diseases are posing new challenges to the scientific
knowledge. Crop losses due to viral diseases are spreading and increasing
progressively due to rapid movement of plant materials, intensive cultivation
of limited varieties and origin of new viruses. However, bacterial viruses,
plant viruses like CaMV and geminiviruses as well as animal viruses like
SV40, baculoviruses, oncoviruses are increasingly contributing to our
understanding of cell biology, molecular biology and serving as tools in
biotechnology. Despite its high importance, virology has been given a cursory
treatment in the curricula of most of the universities. Consequently, the
students are introduced to virology only at advanced level. Certainly there is
an urgent need to introduce this subject at the entry level itself. This
necessitates availability of the book providing sufficient information of
introductory nature.
Though several books are available on plant viruses, there is dearth of
the books that can provide holistic information about the viruses to a
beginner. The present book “Essentials of Virology”, hopefully, bridges this
gap. The book covers the basic information on viruses in a systematic manner
providing not only the accumulated information but also the recent
developments in the subject Certainly contents of the book would be useful to
the students pursuing courses both at undergraduate and postgraduate levels
in all biological disciplines.
I congratulate the authors for bringing out of this kind, which I hope
would fill long-felt need of both teachers and students.

Dr. S.M. Paul Khurana

Vice-Chancellor, R.D. University
Jabalpur - 482 001
 CONTENTS

Preface iii
Acknowledgements iv
Foreword v

Part I : Principles of Virology

Chapter 1 History of virology 1

Chapter 2 Origin and evolution of viruses 10

Chapter 3 Morphology and chemical composition 16

Chapter 4 Isolation and cultivation 28

Chapter 5 Purification and characterization 36

Chapter 6 Detection and assay 46

Chapter 7 Taxonomy 56

Part II : Bacteriophages

Chapter 8 Distribution and classification 85

Chapter 9 Replication strategies 93

Chapter 10 Phage-host interactions 125

Chapter 11 Importance and applications 130

viii Essentials of Virology

Part III : Plant Viruses

Chapter 12 Nomenclature and classification 139

Chapter 13 Replication strategies 147
Chapter 14 Virus-host interactions 168
Chapter 15 Transmission 179
Chapter 16 Diagnosis of plant viral diseases 187

Chapter 17 Management of plant viral diseases 200

Part IV : Animal and Human Viruses

Chapter 18 Classification 211

Chapter 19 Replication strategies 220

Chapter 20 Virus-host interactions 241

Chapter 21 Pathogenesis 247

Chapter 22 Diagnosis of animal viral diseases 253
Chapter 23 Oncoviruses 265

Chapter 24 Prevention and control of animal and human viral diseases 271

Part V : Miscellaneous Viruses and Subviral agents

Chapter 25 Phycoviruses 297

Chapter 26 Mycoviruses 301

Chapter 27 Subviral agents 306

Chapter 28 Viroids 313
Chapter 29 Prions 319

Abbreviations 327
Glossary 331

Index 335
 PART ONE

PRINCIPLES
OF

VIROLOGY