Discovery of Viruses Flashcards
What is the first ever virus discovered?
Tobacco mosaic virus
what did adolf mayer do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in the 1880’s (1879-1886) was unable to culture infectious tobacco leaf extracts and concluded it was an “soluble, enzyme-like contagium”/ an “unknown bacterium”
what did dmitri ivanovsky do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in 1892, tried to filter infectious tobacco leaf extract through a bacteria-proof filter, but the filtrate was still infectious so concluded that the filter must have been defective
what did martinus beijerinck do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in 1898, filtered infectious tobacco leaf extract through a bacterial filter, and used that filtrate to inoculate healthy tobacco leaves, which infected them, concluding that the filtrate was a “contagious living fluid”
what did wendell stanley do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in 1935 he crystallized TMV, concluding that “a virus is protein in nature”
what did bawden & pirie do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in 1936 discovered that the TMV particle contains 5% RNA
what did helmut ruska do to help with the discovery of TMV (tobacco mosaic virus)?
in 1939 gave the first visualization of TMV using an electron microscope (showed that its a rod structure)
what did the fraenkel-conrat group do to help with the discovery of TMV?
in 1950s, they purified the viruses from the tobacco leaf extracts, separating them into capsid protein and RNA. the results were that the capsid protein alone was not infectious, capsid protein and RNA was infectious, and the RNA alone was infectious. therefore, RNA is the genetic material of TMV
what was the first animal virus discovered?
Food-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV), which is the MOST contagious viral diseases of hoofed animals like cattle, sheep, pigs, etc.
- may result in calf death, infertility in female cattle, reduction in milk production
who discovered the first animal virus?
Loeffler & Frosch in 1898
how was the first animal virus discovered?
the virus was filterable from cattle infected with FMDV, however was the filtrate remained infectious
what was the first ever virus discovered in humans?
yellow fever. it was caused by a vector-borne filterable virus by Reed and its team, 1901
