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Etiology

Lisianthus Necrosis Virus, a New Necrovirus from Eustoma russellianum. Mitsuro Iwaki, National Institute of Agro-Environmental Sciences, Yatabe, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan; Kaoru Hanada(2), Elvezia Ramirez A. Maria(3), and Shizuo Onogi(4). (2)National Agriculture Research Center, Yatabe, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305, Japan; (3)Centro Regional de Investigacion Agricola, Capitan Miranda, Itapua, Paraguay; (4)Chiba Horticultural Experiment Station, Tateyama, Chiba 294, Japan. Phytopathology 77:867-870. Accepted for publication 13 November 1986. Copyright 1987 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-77-867.

A virus isolated from lisianthus, Eustoma russellianum, showing systemic necrotic symptoms was designated lisianthus necrosis virus (LNV). The virus was transmitted by sap inoculation and infected 21 species within 10 plant families; it was also soilborne. The virus lost infectivity when heated for 10 min at 95 but not at 90 C, diluted 10^–10 but not 10^–9, or stored at 20 C for more than 9 wk. The virus did not react with antisera to tobacco necrosis, cucumber necrosis, and melon necrotic spot viruses. The virus particles, which were spherical with diameters of 30 ± 0.48 nm, sedimented as a single component with a sedimentation coefficient of 136 S and had a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.333 ± 0.003 g/cm³. They contained single-stranded RNA with a molecular weight of 1.67 × 10⁶ (estimated by gel electrophoresis of undenatured RNA) and a single polypeptide with a molecular weight of 35,500.