Roosterlorn said:Read the article and see if it makes sense. It left me a little confused with questions. Interesting reading if nothing else.
It seems I remember reading that page many years ago when I was neophyte, but had completely forgotten about it. Thanks for bringing it up, Lorn.
It's important to realize that the page clearly states that it is "by no means inclusive", and that there will be gaps in information. Generally, that should mean that what they say is true, but what they don't say is not inferred, and that may be just as important. Theoretical hypotheses derived from incomplete data may be valuable in future study, but obviously, one can only formulate possibilities from them, not fact.
So in the case with TBV and the Tulipa/Lilium genera.
Roosterlorn said:Within the article they state that the species of potyviridae family (TBV) virus that infects lilies is different than the species of potyviridae family than the one that infects tulips.
Yes, the PBS page clearly states that the LMoV does not infect tulips. This I would take as gospel. But it does not say anything about whether the TBV that infects tulips will not infect lilies. This is an unsubstantiated inference, in my opinion. Indeed further down the page, Lilium spp. are listed as susceptible to TBV, but it could be that this was data gathered before TBV and LMoV were differentiated. Was this just a slip in writing? I don't know. One might ask on the Yahoo Lilium group or the PBS listserve. Nhu Nguyen, among other good resource people are active on both.
More important is to realize that there are many more virus species besides TBV that infect tulips that might also infect lilies, and also the absolute surety that there are many more potentially pertinent viruses yet to be discovered. How prevalent are these in the biosphere? Maybe more common, maybe less. I don't know.
In regards to my previous ruminations on planting tulips and lilies together versus lilies and more lilies together, there could be hundreds of virus species that infect lilies. What about them? Not only have they not been studied, it's likely that they have not even been identified. Moreover, the PBS page's virus species section
caveat lector (reader beware) states that if one species is found to be susceptible, then it is
assumes that the whole family (not just the genus) is also susceptible. It also clearly states that such a
general assertion does not hold true in all cases.
So there are a lot of unanswered questions.
This discussion also makes me wonder, then, which
TBVTMV type virus is in tobacco - one that infects lilies or not?
