This volume of the series The Plant Viruses is devoted to viruses with rod-shaped particles belonging to the following four groups: the toba- moviruses (named after tobacco mosaic virus), the tobraviruses (after to- bacco rattle), the hordeiviruses (after the latin hordeum in honor of the type member barley stripe mosaic virus), and the not yet officially rec- ognized furoviruses (fungus-transmitted rod-shaped viruses, Shirako and Brakke, 1984). At present these clusters of plant viruses are called groups instead of genera or families as is customary in other areas of virology. This pe-...

During the past two decades, virus taxonomy has advanced to the point where most viruses can be classified as belonging to families, genera, or groups of related viruses. Virus classification is primarily based on chem ical and physical similarities, such as the size and shape of the virion, the nature of the genomic nucleic acid, the number and function of com ponent proteins, the presence of lipids and of additional structural fea tures, such as envelopes, and serological interrelationships. The families, genera, or groups of viruses that have been defined on the basis of such criteria by...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num- bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new-truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, bio- chemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spec- troscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, biochemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spectroscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and numbering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new-truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, bio- chemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spectroscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, biochemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spectroscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, biochemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spectroscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num- bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new-truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, bio- chemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spec- troscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new-truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, bio chemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spec troscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...

The time seems ripe for a critical compendium of that segment of the biological universe we call viruses. Virology, as a science, having passed only recently through its descriptive phase of naming and num bering, has probably reached that stage at which relatively few new truly new-viruses will be discovered. Triggered by the intellectual probes and techniques of molecular biology, genetics, biochemical cytology, and high resolution microscopy and spectroscopy, the field has experienced a genuine information explosion. Few serious attempts have been made to chronicle these events. This...