ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a brief account of the development of studies on structure, composition, properties, cytopathology, and taxonomy of Hordeiviruses. Hordeiviruses have narrow individual host ranges and possess rather stable particles that are transmitted by contact and, with barley stripe mosaic virus (BSMV) and lychnis ringspot virus (LRSV), through both gametes to the seed. Thin sections of BSMV-infected cells have been extensively studied in regard to general cytopathology, plastid alterations, cell wall thickening and paramural body formation, attachment of virus particles to microtubules, and seed transmission. The cytopathology of BSMV-infected cells and related problems have been extensively reviewed by Jackson and Lane. BSMV particles are easily distinguished in thin sections by their shape and electron density. Hordeivirus particles occur in the cytoplasm and, less frequently, in the nuclei of infected cells. The group consists of BSMV, the rather similar poa semilatent virus (PSLV) and LRSV.
