一直以来，人们始终认为植物病毒并不会感染动物，反之动物病毒也不可能感染植物，但是日前一些科学家却在人类的粪便中发现了大量的植物病毒，这表明首个人类可能被感染的植物病毒将发现。相关论文发表于PLoS ONE上。
据报道，日前来自法国地中海大学（University of the Mediterranean）的迪迪埃·拉乌尔特（Didier Raoult）和他的团队研究发现一种胡椒病毒很有可能感染人类，以致人类生病。在参与其研究测试的304个成人中，他们在其中7%的人的粪便里发现了胡椒轻斑驳病毒的RNA。而且那些体内带有这种病毒的人要比不带有这种病毒的人更容易发烧，腹痛以及瘙痒。
但并不是每个人都相信这一说法，来自美国新奥尔良杜兰大学的病毒学家罗伯特·加里（Robert Garry）就表示，拉乌尔特只是观察了许多可能的症状，但是却没有找到一些在感染病毒的人群中随机出现而且更加普遍的症状。而且，为了进入细胞并且复制自身，病毒必须首先与人体细胞的受体相结合，但是植物病毒却基本不能识别人体细胞表面的受体。
而拉乌尔特称，植物病毒可能并不是直接感染人体细胞，而其裸露的RNA很可能利用类似于RNA干涉（在转录水平、转录后水平和翻译水平上阻断基因的表达）的机制改变人体细胞的机能。目前，拉乌尔特和他的团队正在为证明植物病毒可以感染动物的判断是正确的而寻找更直接的证据。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推荐原始出处：
PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010041
Pepper Mild Mottle Virus, a Plant Virus Associated with Specific Immune Responses, Fever, Abdominal Pains, and Pruritus in Humans
Philippe Colson1,2, Hervé Richet1, Christelle Desnues1, Fanny Balique1,6, Valérie Moal3, Jean-Jacques Grob4, Philippe Berbis5, Hervé Lecoq6, Jean-Robert Harlé7, Yvon Berland3, Didier Raoult1,2*
1 Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales émergentes (URMITE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 6236 – Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) 3R198, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France, 2 P?le des Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Clinique et Biologique, Fédération de Bactériologie-Hygiène-Virologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Timone, Marseille, France, 3 Centre de Néphrologie et Transplantation Rénale, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Conception, Marseille, France, 4 Service de Dermatologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Sainte-Marguerite, Marseille, France, 5 Service de Dermatologie, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Nord, Marseille, France, 6 Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA), Unité de Recherche (UR) 407, Unité de Pathologie Végétale, Montfavet, France, 7 Service de Médecine Interne, Centre Hospitalo-Universitaire Conception, Marseille, France
Background
Recently, metagenomic studies have identified viable Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a plant virus, in the stool of healthy subjects. However, its source and role as pathogen have not been determined.
Methods and Findings
21 commercialized food products containing peppers, 357 stool samples from 304 adults and 208 stool samples from 137 children were tested for PMMoV using real-time PCR, sequencing, and electron microscopy. Anti-PMMoV IgM antibody testing was concurrently performed. A case-control study tested the association of biological and clinical symptoms with the presence of PMMoV in the stool. Twelve (57%) food products were positive for PMMoV RNA sequencing. Stool samples from twenty-two (7.2%) adults and one child (0.7%) were positive for PMMoV by real-time PCR. Positive cases were significantly more likely to have been sampled in Dermatology Units (p<10?6), to be seropositive for anti-PMMoV IgM antibodies (p = 0.026) and to be patients who exhibited fever, abdominal pains, and pruritus (p = 0.045, 0.038 and 0.046, respectively).
Conclusions
Our study identified a local source of PMMoV and linked the presence of PMMoV RNA in stool with a specific immune response and clinical symptoms. Although clinical symptoms may be imputable to another cofactor, including spicy food, our data suggest the possibility of a direct or indirect pathogenic role of plant viruses in humans.
