VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Isolation of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus, a Geminivirus. H. Czosnek, Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, The Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, P.O. Box 12, Israel; R. Ber(2), Y. Antignus(3), S. Cohen(4), N. Navot(5), and D. Zamir(6). (2)(5)(6)Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, The Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot, P.O. Box 12, Israel; (3)(4)Department of Virology, Agricultural Research Organization, Bet-Dagan, Israel. Phytopathology 78:508-512. Accepted for publication 3 September 1987. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-78-508.

The tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) was purified from infected tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) and datura (Datura stramonium) plants. Typical twinned particles, characteristic of members of the geminivirus group, were detected in partially purified preparations obtained from TYLCV-infected source plants. Virus-containing fractions were infective as confirmed by membrane transmission tests with the whitefly vector Bemisia tabaci. A circular single-stranded DNA containing about 2,800 nucleotides was isolated from the infective virus preparations.