Infection by viruses causing diseases of economic importance is in general of the systemic type, whereby the virus invades a substantial amount of host tissue from the primary point of entry. However, in several virus-host interactions the infection remains localized and the virus moves into and multiplies in only a small group of cells near the point of entry. This local-lesion response has been well known for many years; Holmes (22) was the first to recognize the possibilities for quantitative work. Although the use of the local-lesion assay is probably one of the most common techniques employed in plant virus laboratories, the physiology of lesion formation and the mechanism of restriction of virus movement to adjacent tissues are still poorly understood.
Infection by viruses causing diseases of economic importance is in general of the systemic type, whereby the virus invades a substantial amount of host tissue from the primary point of entry. However, in several virus-host interactions the infection remains localized and the virus moves into and multiplies in only a small group of cells near the point of entry. This local-lesion response has been well known for many years; Holmes (22) was the first to recognize the possibilities for quantitative work. Although the use of the local-lesion assay is probably one of the most common techniques employed in plant virus laboratories, the physiology of lesion formation and the mechanism of restriction of virus movement to adjacent tissues are still poorly understood.