VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Ultrastructure and Mitochondrial Vesiculation Associated with Closteroviruslike Particles in Leafroll-Diseased Grapevines. K. S. Kim, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701; D. Gonsalves(2), D. Teliz(3), and K. W. Lee(4). (2)Department of Plant Pathology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456; (3)Colegio de Postgraduados, 56230 Chapingo, Mexico; (4)Department of Agricultural Biology, Kyungpook National University, Daegu, Korea. Phytopathology 79:357-360. Accepted for publication 5 October 1988. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-79-357.

Ultrastructural studies of Riesling and Chardonnay grapevines with typical leafroll-disease symptoms occurring in northwest Arkansas revealed flexuous, rod-shaped viruslike particles approximately 12 nm in diameter and of undetermined length occurring consistently in phloem cells. In phloem parenchyma cells, the particles were associated with clusters of membranous vesicles, 50–100 nm in diameter, containing fine fibrils characteristic of closterovirus infections. Unlike other known closteroviruses, however, the fibril-containing vesicles originated from modified mitochondria. Direct enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays indicated that the virus was serologically related to a New York isolate (NY-1) of a closterovirus associated with grapevine leafroll disease.