tulip breaking virus

Tulip breaking virus is a member of the potato virus Y group; a distant serological relationship to tobacco etch virus was discovered in 1971.

The Tulip breaking virus is one of five plant viruses of the family Potyviridae that cause color-breaking of tulip flowers.

Variegated varieties admired during the Dutch tulipomania gained their delicately feathered patterns from an infection with the tulip breaking virus, a mosaic virus that was carried by the green peach aphid, Myzus persicae.

It is now known that this effect is due to the bulbs being infected with a type of tulip-specific mosaic virus, known as the "Tulip breaking virus", so called because it "breaks" the plant's lock on a single color of petal.

These include lettuce mosaic virus, bearded iris mosaic virus, narcissus yellow stripe virus, tulip breaking virus, potato leaf roll virus, potato virus Y, beet mild yellowing virus and beet yellows virus.

Two separate strains of the virus - Severe Tulip Breaking Virus (STBV) and Mild Tulip Breaking Virus (MTBV) - have been determined by the type and severity of the symptoms they cause.