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Etiology

Beet Pseudo-Yellows Virus: Purification and Serology. Hsing -Yeh Liu, Plant pathologist, USDA-ARS, U. S. Agricultural Research Station, 1636 E. Alisal Street, Salinas, CA 93905; James E. Duffus, Plant pathologist, USDA-ARS, U. S. Agricultural Research Station, 1636 E. Alisal Street, Salinas, CA 93905. Phytopathology 80:866-869. Accepted for publication 12 March 1990. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1990. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-80-866.

Beet pseudo-yellows virus (BPYV) has been purified from BPYV-infectedNicotiana clevelandii. Purified preparations had an A_260/280nm ratio of 1.315 and contained long, flexuous rod-shaped particles approximately 12 nm wide and 1,500?1,800 nm long. Virus yield ranged from 100 to 400 ?g/kg of leaf tissue. An extinction coefficient of 3 (mg/ml)^?1 ? cm^?1 at A_260nm was used. An antiserum to BPYV was prepared that has enabled us to diagnose BPYV-infected plants by the indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) but not the direct ELISA test. The disease, transmitted by the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum), has been diagnosed previously only by transmission and host range tests. This is the first report of the description of the particle morphology of BPYV and the production of an antiserum that can be used for serodiagnosis.