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Artificial Inoculation of Maize White Line Mosaic Virus into Corn and Wheat. L. Zhang, Graduate research assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; T. A. Zitter, and E. J. Lulkin. Associate professor, and research assistant, respectively, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phytopathology 81:397-400. Accepted for publication 29 October 1990. Copyright 1991 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-81-397.

Maize white line mosaic virus (MWLMV) was transmitted to healthy sweet corn (Zea mays) or wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds by adding purified virus to the wound sites. The seedlings that germinated from these wounded seeds showed typical symptoms of white line mosaic disease. With this technique, MWLMV was demonstrated as the causal agent for this disease. Of the major cereal crops (corn, rice, barley, sorghum, oat, and wheat) tested with this technique, only corn and wheat were susceptible to MWLMV. Results were confirmed by using indirect ELISA and cDNA techniques. No difference in susceptibility to MWLMV was found among 11 sweet corn cultivars with four different genes (sh2, su, se, and ae + du + wx) that encode sugary phenotypes. Young sweet corn seedlings were infected with MWLMV by hypocotyl wounding when inoculated at an early stage. Crude sap from plants infected with MWLMV and MWLMV-RNA also infected corn after embryo wounding. In addition, maize dwarf mosaic virus strains A and B, a cucumber mosaic virus strain, and maize subtle mosaic virus infected corn plants by the embryo-wounding technique. This technique can easily provide a continuous supply of diseased material for further studies.