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Etiology

Properties of Bermuda Grass Etched-Line Virus, a New Leafhopper-Transmitted Virus Related to Maize Rayado Fino and Oat Blue Dwarf Viruses. B. E. L. Lockhart, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota/Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II, B.P. 438, Agadir, Morocco; Nezha Khaless(2), Angela M. Lennon(3), and Mohammed El Maatauoi(4). (2)Laboratorie de Controle des Semences, INRA, Rabat, Morocco; (3)Scottish Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, Scotland; (4)Laboratoire de Virologie, INRA, Rabat, Morocco. Phytopathology 75:1258-1262. Accepted for publication 17 June 1985. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-75-1258.

A previously undescribed virus occurring in Bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon) and Johnson grass (Sorghum halepense) in Morocco had isometric particles approximately 28 nm in diameter. The virus was transmitted by the cicadellid leafhopper (Aconurella prolixa) but not mechanically, by aphids, or through soil. The virus caused white etched-line symptoms on Bermuda grass and narrow chlorotic streaks on Johnson grass. It also infected maize, wheat, and oats but not barley or sugarcane. The virus sedimented as a top, 57S, protein component and a bottom, 118S, nucleoprotein component. Both components contained a single capsid protein with a molecular mass of 26.5- 27.0 kdaltons as determined by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The virus, named Bermuda grass etched-line virus (BELV), was related serologically to both maize rayado fino virus (MRFV) and oat blue dwarf virus (OBDV). Properties shared with OBDV and MRFV suggest that BELV should be assigned to the OBDV-MRFV group of plant viruses.