There are a large number of viruses that infect plants and these can cause serious losses in production, both in terms of yield and quality. First I will describe the structure of most typical plant viruses, then the methods that are currently used to control viruses, and finally how biotechnology may provide new approaches to developing resistance. The vast majority of viruses that infect plants are RNA viruses. Plant viruses are grouped into families based on their physical structure and the organization of their genomes.
Plant viruses are fairly simple creatures.
The virus particle is made up of a protein shell or coat which surrounds the RNA or DNA genome. The shell is made up of one or two proteins, and these proteins assemble to form the coat. These proteins are known as coat protein . When a virus enters a cell, the RNA is released from the protein coat. This RNA is then used as template to make RNA and proteins encoded by the virus.