The discovery of tomato spotted wilt virus
Andrew D. W. Geering![https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5743-6804](/media/client/orcid_16x16.png)
A Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, Qld 4072, Australia.
Abstract
The discovery of tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) was an important finding in Australian science, involving a self-educated field naturalist and a small team of plant pathologists who had to work in relative academic isolation and with inadequate glasshouse facilities. After its discovery in Melbourne in 1915, TSWV rapidly spread throughout Australia and by 1929, it posed an existential threat to the tomato industry. To address this problem, a joint project between the Waite Agricultural Research Institute and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research was initiated in 1926. This collaboration, led by University of Adelaide plant pathologist Geoffrey Samuel, was initially turbulent but ultimately highly productive. Within an eight-year period, significant advances were made in understanding the aetiology of the disease, particularly by establishing that it was caused by a thrips-transmitted virus. Aspects of the epidemiology and control of the virus were also elucidated such as investigating alternative hosts of the virus. This research was made possible through substantial improvements in mechanical inoculation techniques.
Keywords: agriculture, alternative hosts, Charles Brittlebank, circulative transmission, CSIR, epidemiology, Geoffrey Samuel, history, plants, review, thrips, tospovirus, vector.
References
Bald, J. G., and Samuel, G. (1931) Investigations on “spotted wilt” of tomatoes, II, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin, 54, 1-24.
| Google Scholar |
Best, R. J. (1968) Tomato spotted wilt virus, Advances in Virus Research, 13, 65-146.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Best, R. J., and Samuel, G. (1936a) The effect of various chemical treatments on the activity of the viruses of tomato spotted wilt and tobacco mosaic, Annals of Applied Biology, 23, 759-780.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Best, R. J., and Samuel, G. (1936b) The reaction of the viruses of tomato spotted wilt and tobacco mosaic to the pH value of media containing them, Annals of Applied Biology, 23, 509-537.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Brittlebank, C. C. (1899) Birds of Myrniong and surrounding district, The Victorian Naturalist, 16, 59-61.
| Google Scholar |
Brittlebank, C. C. (1919) Tomato diseases, Journal of the Department of Agriculture in Victoria, 17, 1348-1352.
| Google Scholar |
Brittlebank, C. C., Sweet, G., and David, T. W. E. (1898) Further evidence as to the glacial action in the Bacchus Marsh District, Victoria, Report of the Seventh Meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, 7, 361-365.
| Google Scholar |
Carne, W. M. (1928) An outline of the history of phytopathology with special reference to its development in Australia, Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia, 14, 24-36.
| Google Scholar |
Harley, J. L. (1991) Stephen Denis Garrett, 1 November 1906–26 December 1989, Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society, 37, 177-195.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Hewish, M. (2006) Historical notes on Charles and Thomas Brittlebank, pioneer naturalists in the Werribee Gorge District, West of Melbourne, The Victorian Naturalist, 123, 314-317.
| Google Scholar |
Osborn, T. G. B., and Samuel, G. (1922) Some new records of fungi for South Australia, Part II, together with a description of a new species of Puccinia, Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia, 46, 166-180.
| Google Scholar |
Pittman, H. A. (1927) Spotted wilt of tomato, Journal of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 1, 74-77.
| Google Scholar |
Priode, C. N. (1928) Further studies in the ring-spot disease of tobacco, American Journal of Botany, 15, 88-93.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Samuel, G. (1931) Some experiments on inoculating methods with plant viruses, and on local lesions, Annals of Applied Biology, 18, 494-507.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Samuel, G., Bald, J. G., and Pittman, H. A. J. (1930) Investigations on ‘spotted wilt’ of tomatoes, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Bulletin, 44, 1-64.
| Google Scholar |
Samuel, G., Best, R. J., and Bald, J. G. (1935) Further studies on quantitative methods with two plant viruses, Annals of Applied Biology, 22, 508-524.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Scholthof, K.-B. G. (2014) Making a virus visible: Francis O. Holmes and a biological assay for Tobacco mosaic virus, Journal of the History of Biology, 47, 107-145.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Scholthof, K.-B. G., Adkins, S., Czosnek, H., et al. (2011) Top 10 plant viruses in molecular plant pathology, Molecular Plant Pathology, 12, 938-954.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Smith, K. M. (1931a) Studies on potato virus diseases VIII. On a ringspot virus affecting solanaceous plants, Annals of Applied Biology, 18, 1-15.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Smith, K. M. (1931b) Thrips tabaci Lind. as a vector of plant virus disease, Nature, 127, 852-853.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Smith, K. M. (1932) Studies on plant virus diseases. Further experiments with a ringspot virus: its identification with spotted wilt of the tomato, Annals of Applied Biology, 19, 305-330.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |
Stubbs, L. L. (1994) A discussion of past events and influences in the development of Australian plant pathology, Australasian Plant Pathology, 23, 138-143.
| Crossref | Google Scholar |