biologia plantarum

Biologia plantarum 1:135-141, 1959 | DOI: 10.1007/BF02927049

Cadmium ions as inhibitore of tobacco mosaic virus

Marie Ulrychová-Zelinková¹

¹ Department of Plant Pathology, Institute of Biology, Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Praha

1. While studying the inhibitory effects of cadmium ions on the reproduction of tobacco mosaic virus in vivo it was found that a dose of 160 mg. Cd²⁺ applied in two waterings to one plant (immediately before inoculation and the third day following inoculation) produced an average 70% inhibition, without in any way injuring the plants themselves.
2. The inhibitory effect of cadmium ions decreased considerably when the plants were watered with a cadmium ion solution 24 hours before inoculation.
3. The differences in the course of primary infection, as followed by means of iodine tests, were particularly apparent in the following respects: starch is lost from the infected leaves of the experimental plants more slowly, the development of chlorotic spots is slowed down and their delimitation and structure are not so sharp.
4. On some leaves of young tobacco plants (N. tabacum Samsun) larger doses of cadmium produce spots, which resemble the necrotic lesions on leaves ofN. glutinosa following infection with TMV.
5. Preliminary determination indicates that cadmium ions cause a disturbance of phosphorus metabolism.
6. In the discussion it is suggested that the inhibitory effect of cadmium ions on the reproduction of TMV may, analogically to the conception existing in animal physiology, be connected with the interaction of zinc and cadmium ions in nucleoprotein metabolism.

Received: November 19, 1958; Published: June 1, 1959  Show citation