What Did Viruses Ever Do For Us? The Evolution of “Good” Viruses

A free public talk by Professor John Carr exploring how some viruses benefit plants and may even be useful in crop breeding.

Professor John Carr examines the paradox that many viruses, despite their bad reputation, confer benefits on their plant hosts, such as aiding survival under drought or cold or helping attract pollinators. He discusses 'persistent' viruses like partitiviruses and endornaviruses, which are transmitted only via seed and pollen, cause no disease, and may have become obligate plant symbionts. Recent experiments testing whether such mutualistic viruses could be useful in crop breeding will be presented. The talk runs from 5:30pm to 6:30pm and booking is recommended.