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Etiology

Purification and Serology of a Bacilliform Virus Associated with Banana Streak Disease. B. E. L. Lockhart, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul 55108/Departement de Phytopathologie, Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II, Complexe Horticole, B.P. 438, Agadir, Morocco; Phytopathology 76:995-999. Accepted for publication 1 May 1986. Copyright 1986 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-76-995.

Bacilliform particles measuring 119 x 27 nm were consistently associated with a chlorotic and necrotic leaf streak disease of banana (Musa sp.) in Morocco. The virus was detected by electron microscopy, immunosorbent electron microscopy (ISEM), and enzyme immune assay (EIA) in streak-diseased banana plants but not in symptomless plants or in plants infected solely with either cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) or banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). The disease was propagated vegetatively but was not transmitted through soil. Neither the disease nor the particles were transmitted mechanically to healthy banana or other test plants. The banana bacilliform virus was purified and an antiserum prepared. The disease, which occurs frequently in bananas in southern Morocco, was named banana streak disease, and the associated bacilliform virus is referred to as banana streak virus (BSV). In ISEM tests, BSV was trapped by its homologous antiserum but not by antisera to either cacao swollen shoot or rice tungro bacilliform viruses.