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Etiology

A Satellitelike Virus Particle Associated with Maize White Line Mosaic Virus. R. E. Gingery, Research chemist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), and the Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University (OSU), Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), Wooster 44691; Raymond Louie, research plant pathologist, U. S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS), and the Department of Plant Pathology, The Ohio State University (OSU), Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC), Wooster 44691. Phytopathology 75:870-874. Accepted for publication 13 March 1985. 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-75-870.

A satellitelike virus (SV) particle (isometric, 17 nm in diameter) was found in maize white line mosaic virus (MWLMV)-infected maize plants. The SV was serologically unrelated to MWLMV, to the satellite virus of tobacco necrosis virus, and to the satellitelike particle associated with panicum mosaic virus, but the SV was serologically related to a satellitelike particle associated with maize dwarf ringspot virus, a virus from France that is serologically related to MWLMV. The roots of all 34 MWLMV-infected plants examined also contained SV. The leaves of these plants had no particles, both particles, or only MWLMV, but never SV alone. Yields of purified SV from maize roots and leaves were usually 300- 500 μg/g of tissue. The SV had a sedimentation coefficient of 48S, a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.355 g/ml, a 24.7-kdalton coat protein, and a single-stranded RNA genome with an M_r of 0.44 x 10⁶. As with MWLMV, the SV could be transmitted to healthy maize plants only by growing the plants in soils that had previously contained SV-infected maize plants.