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Sodium Azide as a Protectant of Serological Activity and Infectivity of Plant Viruses. G. V. Gooding, Jr., Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607; J. P. Tsakiridis, Graduate Student, Department of Plant Pathology, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27607. Phytopathology 61:943-944. Accepted for publication 8 March 1971. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-61-943.

Antigenicity of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV), potato virus Y (PVY), tobacco etch virus (TEV), potato virus X (PVX), alfalfa mosaic virus (AMV), and cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was preserved in tobacco leaf tissue stored in 1% sodium azide (NaN₃) at 25 C for 4 weeks. TMV, PVY, and TEV were infectious after 4 weeks, and PVX after 1 week’s storage at 25 C in NaN₃. Neither AMV nor CMV were infectious after 1 week at 25 C in NaN₃.