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Association of a Virus with Wheat Displaying Yellow Head Disease Symptoms in the Great Plains

August 2005 , Volume 89 , Number  8
Pages  888 - 895

Dallas L. Seifers , Professor, Kansas State University, Agricultural Research Center-Hays, 67601-9228 ; Tom L. Harvey , Professor, Department of Entomology, Kansas State University, Manhattan 66506 ; T. J. Martin , Professor, Kansas State University, Agricultural Research Center-Hays ; Steve Haber , Research Scientist, Cereal Research Center, Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada, 195 Dafoe Road, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ; Y.-M. She , Research Associate , and Werner Ens and Kenneth G. Standing , Professors, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada ; and Raffi Salomon and A. Gera , Volcani Center, Bet-Dagan, Israel



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Accepted for publication 27 April 2005.
ABSTRACT

Wheat with yellow head disease (YHD) (yellow heads and mosaic leaf symptoms) has been observed in Kansas since 1997. A pathogen was transmitted from the infected wheat to maize by vascular puncture inoculation and to Nicotiana benthamiana by rub inoculation. The original infected wheat and infected maize and N. benthamiana test plants all produced a unique 32- to 34-kDa protein when analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Time-of-flight mass spectrometry analysis of the unique 32- to 34-kDa protein showed that the amino acid sequence was most closely related to the nucleoprotein of Rice hoja blanca virus, indicating that the virus causing YHD symptoms in wheat is a tenuivirus. Antiserum made to this protein failed to react with extracts made from healthy wheat or wheat infected with Wheat streak mosaic virus or the High Plains virus. The antiserum did react to extracts made from symptomatic wheat, maize, and N. benthamiana, shown by SDS-PAGE to contain the unique protein, and to extracts of wheat with YHD symptoms from Kansas, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Oklahoma. The name Wheat yellow head virus is proposed for this virus.



© 2005 The American Phytopathological Society