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Cytology and Histology

Two Types of Inclusions in Maize Infected with Maize Stripe Virus. E. D. Ammar, Visiting professor, Department of Entomology, Ohio State University, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OSU-OARDC); R. E. Gingery(2), and L. R. Nault(3). (2)Research chemist, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Department of Plant Pathology, OSU-OARDC; (3)Professor, Department of Entomology, OSU-OARDC, Wooster 44691. Phytopathology 75:84-89. Accepted for publication 16 July 1984. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1985. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-75-84.

Two types of inclusions were consistently found in the epidermis, mesophyll, vascular parenchyma, and phloem elements of maize stripe virus (MStpV)-infected maize (Zea mays) leaves, but not in similar tissues from healthy or maize mosaic virus-infected plants. One type consisted of long, narrow bundles of filamentous, electron-opaque (FEO) material. The bundles were from 30 to 400 nm wide and up to 3.5 μm long and were composed of fine filaments in a paracrystalline array with a periodicity of 3.5- 3.7 nm. The FEO inclusions were usually surrounded by a membrane and were found in the cytoplasm and cell vacuole. The other type of inclusion consisted of irregularly shaped masses of amorphous, semi-electron-opaque (ASO) material that generally was not enclosed by a membrane. Cells were found that contained both inclusion types. The ASO inclusions were much more abundant in leaves 4- 5 wk after inoculation than at 1- 2 wk; the incidences of FEO inclusions were similar at both times. Antibodies to the MStpV noncapsid protein bound to the FEO inclusions, antibodies to the MStpV nucleoprotein bound to an unidentified cytoplasmic constituent, and neither antibody bound to ASO inclusions.