Plant virology was borne as a branch of plant pathology, but has become more and more an independent discipline with strong biochemical and biotechnological implications. The IVV, in collaboration with Extracampus, the web TV of the University of Torino, has produced short video (10') explaining plant virology and some of the problems connected to it. The video gives a very short synthesis of the discovery of viruses as submicroscopic plant pathogens, then a brief description of the viral structure and of the damages they can cause, both economic and biologic, at macro- and microscopic level. Then an account is given on the possibility of using plant viruses to protect the pants themselves from virus infection (pathogen-derived resistance) or to produce substances useful for animal and human health. In the last part of the movie, plant viruses are proposed as experimental models for studying the theory of evolution.
The video has been produced within a project aimed to the promote the study of plant virology in the high school, co-financed by the Ministry of Education, University and Research (MIUR).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlvvLio4I4w
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