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Application of a Serological Screening Test for Detecting Double-Stranded RNA Mycoviruses. E. M. Moffitt, Research Assistant, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana 47907; R. M. Lister, Professor, Department of Botany and Plant Pathology, Purdue University, W. Lafayette, Indiana 47907. Phytopathology 65:851-859. Accepted for publication 11 March 1975. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-65-851.

Antisera to synthetic double-stranded ribonucleotides were specific for double-stranded RNA (ds-RNA) and also detected it specifically in phenol extracts of virus-like particles (VLP's) from Penicillium chrysogenum ATCC 9480 or in phenol extracts from mycelium. When the antisera were used to test phenol extracts from 70 selected fungal isolates, 20 isolates reacted positively. Some, though not all, of the positive reactions were correlated with the presence of VLP's in clarified buffer extracts from mycelia, and to ds-RNA detected in phenol extracts by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis or sucrose density-gradient centrifugation. The utility of ds-RNA antisera as a simple and sensitive aid in screening fungi for ds-RNA mycoviruses, and for assaying their concentration in extracts, is discussed.