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Disease Detection and Losses

Rapid Detection of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus in Squashes of Plants and Insect Vectors. N. Navot, Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, P.O. Box 12, Israel; R. Ber, and H. Czosnek, Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, P.O. Box 12, Israel. Phytopathology 79:562-568. Accepted for publication 5 October 1988. Copyright 1989 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-79-562.

DNA sequences of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), a gemini-virus, were detected specifically and sensitively by hybridization of infected plant tissues squashed onto a nylon membrane (squash blot) with a specific DNA probe. No treatment of the sample was necessary before squashing and hybridization. TYLCV DNA could be detected in squash blots of tomato leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and fruits. Viral sequences also were detected in single whiteflies that fed on infected plants. Squash blots were used to detect tobacco mosaic virus and potato virus Y, two RNA viruses, in infected tobacco plants. The squash-blot method was applied for screening TYLCV infection in the field in Israel and for diagnosing TYLCV in Turkey.