VIEW ARTICLE

Vector Relations

The Enzymatic Function of Ribonuclease Determines Plant Virus Transmission by Leaf-Feeding Beetles. R. C. Gergerich, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701; H. A. Scott, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701. Phytopathology 78:270-272. Accepted for publication 23 September 1987. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-78-270.

Three types of ribonucleases that differ in their modes of cleaving ribonucleic acid were found to prevent transmission of viruses not transmissible by beetles when mixtures of ribonuclease (RNase) and virus were inoculated to plants using the gross wounding technique. Mixtures of RNase and beetle-transmissible plant viruses, on the other hand, were infective when inoculated in the same manner. When pancreatic RNase, cytochrome c, and chymotrypsinogen, all of which are basic proteins, were mixed with viruses not transmissible by beetles, only pancreatic RNase inhibited virus transmission, indicating that it is not the basic protein nature of RNase, but its enzymatic activity that affects the transmissibility of plant viruses.