Tobacco mosaic virus

Tobacco mosaic virus is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus species in the genus Tobamovirus that infects a wide range of plants, especially tobacco and other members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, producing mosaic-like mottling and discoloration on leaves. It was the first virus ever discovered: the disease it causes was known from the late nineteenth century, a virus was identified as the cause in 1930, and the virus was later crystallized by Wendell Meredith Stanley.