• Question: if plants catch the virus can they transport it to us humans?

    Asked by anon-241502 to Ross, Natalia, Martin, Gabriela, Ellie, Chukwuka on 11 Mar 2020.
    • Photo: Ross Alexander

      Ross Alexander answered on 11 Mar 2020:

      Generally the answer to this question is no. It is very rare to find a virus that will affect both plants and humans the same way. The first ever virus was actually discovered in plants. It was called, tobacco mosaic virus.

      A virus that makes a plant sick will not do the same to us. That is because the interaction between host (plant / human ) and the virus is very very specific (we call this tropism). We differ in lots of ways from plants at the cellular level so their is very little overlap.

      However if someone with the flu or corona virus happens to sneeze on plant food and we then eat that food, it is possible to catch the human virus that way.

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