Tulip breaking virus
| Tulip Breaking Virus (TBV) | |
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| Virus classification | |
| Group: | Group IV ((+)ssRNA) |
| Family: | Potyviridae |
| Genus: | Potyvirus |
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| Synonyms | |
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Tulip break virus |
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Tulip break virus
Tulip mosaic virus
Lily streak virus
Lily mosaic virus
The Tulip breaking virus is one of five plant viruses of the family Potyviridae that cause color-breaking of tulip flowers. These viruses infect only two genera of plants: Tulipa (tulips) and Lilium (lilies), (family Liliaceae). Tulip-breaking virus (TBV), Tulip top-breaking virus (TTBV), Tulip bandbreaking virus (TBBV), Rembrandt tulip-breaking virus (ReTBV) and Lily mottle virus (LMoV) have all been identified as potyviruses by serology and potyvirus-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In addition, sequence analysis of amplified DNA fragments has classified them all as distinct viruses or strains; recently TTBV has been found to be strain-related to turnip mosaic virus.
Tulip breaking virus is a member of the potato virus Y group; a distant serological relationship to tobacco etch virus was discovered in 1971.
Also known as the Tulip break virus, Lily streak virus, Tulip mosaic virus, Lily mosaic virus, or simply TBV, tulip breaking virus is most famous for its dramatic effects on the color of the tulip perianth, which helped to cause the speculative price of rare tulip bulbs during the period of so-called "Tulip mania" in the 17th century Netherlands.
The virus infects the bulb and causes the cultivar to "break" its lock on a single color, resulting in intricate bars, stripes, streaks, featherings or flame-like effects of different colors on the petals. These symptoms vary depending on the plant variety and age at the time of infection. Different types of colour-breaks depend on the variety of tulip and the strain of the virus. The color variegation is caused either by local fading, or intensification and overaccumulation of pigments in the vacuoles of the upper epidermal layer due to the irregular distribution of anthocyanin; this fluctuation in pigmentation occurs after the normal flower color has developed. Because each outer surface is affected, both sides of the petal often display different patterns.
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Wikipedia