We are finding DMV in many dahlia samples. The symptoms range from none, occasional chlorotic spots to severe mosaics. The virus is a sphere 50 nanometers in diameter containing one circular double stranded DNA molecule about 8000 bases long. It is similar to viruses such as cauliflower mosaic virus, figwort virus and carnation etchring virus and therefore belongs in the Caulimoviridae family of viruses. At one time DMV was considered to be a strain of cauliflower mosaic virus but our work shows that it is a distinct and different virus. We have cloned and sequenced a strain of DMV. It contains 6 genes which is typical of a caulimovirus. Genes code for virus movement between plant cells, aphid transmission, membrane binding, virus particle structure, a reverse transcriptase needed for DNA replication and a gene of unknown function. Viruses that code for a reverse transcriptase replicate use the enzyme for their replication via an RNA intermediate structure. This enzyme and type of replication are features of viruses more commonly found infecting animals. Although DMV does not also infect animals, it is possible that pharmasutical drugs that are used to treat animal viral infections may be effective against DMV. We will be looking at chemotherapy as a means to free dahlias of DMV.