Talk:Viroid

message: I find that there are references to domain virus, and aphanobionta to categorize these things (the domains covering the same content) ; and there's the superkingdom Acytota 132.205.15.43 20:20, 25 Nov 2004 (UTC)
thread_title:  Taxonomy 

message: * Wikipedia:WikiProject Viruses
* We need more people to join and help out, please consider having a look at our project page if you're interested in helping out -- Serephine ♠ talk - 12:16, 19 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: WikiProject

message: This is a list of unique viroids including their assigned abbreviations (via ICTVdB Index of Viruses):
 (ADFVd)		Apple dimple fruit viroid
 (AFCVd)		Apple fruit crinkle viroids
 (ASSVd)		Apple scar skin viroid
 (AGVd)		Australian grapevine viroid
 (ASBVd)		Avocado sunblotch viroid
 (BluMVd-RNA)	Blueberry mosaic viroid
 (BuSVd)		Burdock stunt viroid
 (CChMVd)	Chrysanthemum chlorotic mottle viroid
 (CSVd)		Chrysanthemum stunt viroid
 (CBLVd)		Citrus bent leaf viroid
 (CEVd)		Citrus exocortis viroid
 (CbVd)		Citrus viroid III
 (CVd-IV)	Citrus viroid IV
 (CVd-OS)	Citrus viroid original source
 (CCCVd)		Coconut cadang-cadang viroid
 (CTiVd)		Coconut tinangaja viroid
 (CbVd-1)	Coleus blumei viroid 1
 (CbVd-2)	Coleus blumei viroid 2
 (CbVd-3)	Coleus blumei viroid 3
 (CLVd)		Columnea latent viroid
 (ELVd)		Eggplant latent viroid
 (GYSVd-1)	Grapevine yellow speckle viroid 1
 (GYSVd-2)	Grapevine yellow speckle viroid 2
 (HpLVd)		Hop latent viroid
 (HpSVd)		Hop stunt viroid
 (IrVd-1)	Iresine viroid 1
 (MPVd)		Mexican papita viroid
 (NGSVd)		Nicotiana glutinosa stunt viroid
 (PLMVd)		Peach latent mosaic viroid
 (PBCVd)		Pear blister canker viroid
 (PPMMoVd)	Pigeon pea mosaic mottle viroid
 (PSTVd)		Potato spindle tuber viroid
 (TASVd)		Tomato apical stunt viroid
 (ToBTVd)	Tomato bunchy top viroid
 (TCDVd)/(TPMVd)	Tomato planta macho viroid
Van der Hoorn 15:43, 13 June 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  List of currently existing viroids 

message: I realise this is a rather specialised article, but for a non-expert in biology it's relatively easy to find oneself here when looking at the most primitive forms of life/pseudo-life, as the article on virus links to this.  However, on reading the intro, it's very difficult to discern what exactly a viroid is.  If you assume that anyone getting here has a reasonable knowledge of what a virus is, and (roughly) what it does and how it is composed, then a short starter section comparing and contrasting viroids to traditional virii would be a lot of help to a passing reader.
Unfortunately, this is not a very active article, but if anyone reading this understands the basics of this subject, even if you don't consider yourself an expert, I urge you to take a few minutes to add some intro-level description to the opening paragraph.  Every little change helps. Jovial Air (talk) 15:58, 7 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: If the definition of Viroid changes, then I believe a section called "History" should be added or expanded, and reflect on the meaning and intent of the old term, and the new term. In most books I come across Viroid as a pathogen, specifically a small plant pathogen. And this definition seems simple enough. I mean, if you look at the big picture, it's all just a string of RNA. And RNA can do a lot of stuff, just look at "RNA Biology" for all functions of RNA inside of a living cell. 84.112.136.52 (talk) 00:16, 26 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title: Initial Explanation of Viroids

message: This article begins by saying, "Viroids are plant pathogens...", and then under "Pathology" it describes Hepatitis D, a human pathogen.  In the ICTV (the virus database), Hepatitis D is listed as a ssRNA virus, though there are publications that list hepatitis delta in parallel with viroids.  Clearly, this article needs work.  
I'm not a viroid expert, so I'm going to add a reference in the first paragraph to hepatitis delta having similar properties, link to the hepatitis D article, and delete the Pathology section.  Perhaps there should be some content on Pathology of viroids, but I don't know what that would be.Scray (talk) 09:39, 10 March 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Isn't it a virusoid or satellite virus rather than a viroid?--Miguelferig (talk) 17:41, 26 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Inconsistencies regarding inclusion of Hepatitis Delta 

message: The sentense "without the protein coat that is typical for viruses.[1]" is wrong, There are indeed at least three virus families that do not encode for any capsid or coat proteins: Hypoviridae, Endornaviridae and Narnaviridae. 
The fact that viroids do not encode a capsid is not linked to their non-classification in viruses.
Reference: Capsid-Less RNA Viruses http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/9780470015902.a0023269/abstract
Philippe Le Mercier (talk) 11:29, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: I disagree, because exceptions do not invalidate "typical" characteristics.  Humans typically have hair, teeth, 2 arms, and 2 legs.  That not all humans have all of those characteristics does not invalidate my first statement.  The material you removed was supposed by the reliable source you removed.  Your source does NOT say that the material you removed was incorrect.  Care to justify your removal further, or shall I just restore it?  -- Scray (talk) 16:17, 29 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  removal of "without the protein coat that is typical for viruses.[1]" sentense 

message: Can we not get a few pictures from electron-microsopy? I figure it's nothing fancy, given that it has only about 2000 base pairs, and may look like a small plasmid (though it is ssRNA), but still - pictures folks! We want EM-pictures! 84.112.136.52 (talk) 00:14, 26 October 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  Pictures 

message: Hi - I came to this page from the note at RNA world hypothesis. The information on viroids was 5 paragraphs inserted into the lead (WP:UNDUE), so I moved it into a separate section. I'll let you guys decide what should be done with it. :-) Sunrise (talk) 07:07, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: - FWIW - Yes - I *entirely* agree with the edit in the "RNA world hypothesis" article by User:Sunrise atm - also Yes - the moved text to the newly created "RNA world hypothesis#Viroids" section could use some trimming I would think - in any case - Thanks for the help with this - and - Enjoy! :) Drbogdan (talk) 13:01, 24 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: New edits February 2015

message: I found the list given of the six arguments of Dr. Diener, that were summarized etc by Flores et al, a little confusing so would like to ask  if the following, a precis of the Flores text which expands those given here slightly, would be acceptable in its place:
1. the intrinsic error-prone replication of primitive RNA systems led to limitation of the size of their master sequences to avoid the extinction of “error catastrophe”. 
2. viroids increase replication fidelity of RNA systems through higher thermodynamic stability. Furthermore, ribozymes can be formed by the two strands and both function as templates.
3. reiterative copying of their circular genomes would avoid loss of genetic information.  This rolling-circle replication would result in multiple copies of the genetic information, a condition likely favored in primitive replicons with a high mutation rate. 
4. the sequence of some viroids exhibits a structural periodicity characterized by repeat units of different length.  This periodicity points to a mechanism by which larger genomes could have evolved. The recombinant nature of some viroids, which are formed by fragments present in other viroids, is consistent with this view. 
5. viroids are non-protein-coding RNAs which traces their origin back to the first age of the RNA World, wherein no ribosomes existed. 
6. (and most important) viroids have the catalytic activity required for the three steps of viroid replication — cleavage, ligation, and RNA polymerization (in in vitro evolution studies) —  via hammerhead ribozymes.
LookingGlass (talk) 17:32, 2 February 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Having consulted and (at least) Graham Beards having read my proposal) and having received no feedback I propose to now edit the article as detailed (no comment = approval). Thank you.  LookingGlass (talk) 17:30, 9 February 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Your suggestions are not an improvement and contain inaccuracies. In particular, I do not like your use of the word "primative" as all extant RNA polymerases are error prone.  By using the term "thermodynamics" instead of the high G-C content, you are dumbing down the article. Also, your suggestions are too long and contain many technical terms that would need linking. To be blunt, and please forgive me, I think you are out of your depth in this field. Graham Beards (talk) 07:25, 10 February 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  RNA World Hypothesis 

message: Hi! Just wondering; aren't infectious proteins, eg Prions, smaller than viroids? It seems to me that the introductory sentence is false; since I am new to editing Wikipedia, I didn't want to make an edit myself.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dynexo (talk • contribs) 09:11, 27 August 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: No, prions are large protein molecules and are bigger than (the RNA of) viroids. Graham Beards (talk) 09:59, 27 August 2020 (UTC)
replies: text: Hmm in what sense are viroids smaller than prions? If we assume 1 nucleotide in RNA is 325 Da, the smallest viroid listed on this page (246 nucleotides) would weigh roughly 80 kDa. This articlehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4213568/ suggests that the human prion protein is only 36 kDa. This would suggest that prions are indeed smaller than viroids. Is there something I'm missing on this? Marcconnell95 (talk) 01:42, 10 March 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Smallest infectious pathogens? 

message: Just rehashing a question from the previous section. Going to repost the question:
In what sense are viroids smaller than prions? If we assume 1 nucleotide in RNA is 325 Da, the smallest viroid listed on this page (246 nucleotides) would weigh roughly 80 kDa. This articlehttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4213568/ suggests that the human prion protein is only 36 kDa. This would suggest that prions are indeed smaller than viroids. Is there something I'm missing on this?
Marcconnell95 (talk) 15:35, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text: Removed, because the source never mentions this, and even if it did it would probably be wrong. --Jules (Mrjulesd) 15:42, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
replies: text:  From the first linked article: "In humans, the newly synthesized and unprocessed PrPC is approximately 253 amino acids in length and has a molecular weight of 35–36 kDa ". Furthermore, herehttps://www.proteinatlas.org/ENSG00000171867-PRNP is the human protein atlas report for human prion protein. It shows human prion protein having a mass of ~27 kDa. Marcconnell95 (talk) 16:21, 6 April 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prion vs viroid size 

message: While reading through this article, I found the taxonomy section difficult to decipher, would it be a good idea to add the first species in each genera to the bullet point list to make it easier to read. Yirch (talk) 05:34, 22 September 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Formatting 

message: Currently - seems there's several wikilinks to the purportedly newly discovered life form "obelisk" - "Obelisk (virology)" and "Obelisk (life form)" and "Obelisk (viroid)" - perhaps some merger(s) would help? - Comments Welcome - iac - Stay Safe and Healthy !! - Drbogdan (talk) 13:29, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
replies: text: All merged. Naming can be discussed on the talk page of the resultant article. Andy Mabbett (Pigsonthewing); Talk to Andy; Andy's edits 22:01, 31 January 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Obelisk - merger(s) would help?  

message: There is a move discussion in progress on Talk:Obelisk (life form) which affects this page. Please participate on that page and not in this talk page section. Thank you.  —RMCD bot 01:52, 1 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Move discussion in progress