Identification of Maize Rayado Fino Virus in the United States. O. E. Bradfute, Associate Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster 44691. L. R. Nault, D. T. Gordon, Diane C. Robertson, R. W. Toler, and C. W. Boothroyd, Professor, Department of Entomology; Professor of former Post Doctoral Associate, Department of Plant Pathology, respectively, Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster 44691; Professor, Department of Plant Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station 77843; and Professor, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850. Plant Dis. 64:50-53. Accepted for publication 19 March 1979. Copyright 1980 American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-64-50.

Maize rayado fino virus (MRFV) was identified in maize leaf samples from Texas and Florida. Identification was based on leaf symptoms, particle morphology, reactivity of virus with anti-MRFV serum in serologically specific electron microscopy and immune rate-zonal centrifugation, and persistent transmission by Dalbulus maidis leafhoppers. This is the first evidence for occurrences of MRFV in the United States. Samples from Texas were also coinfected with maize dwarf mosaic virus or corn stunt spiroplasma. The leafhopper Graminella nigrifrons was shown to be a new MRFV vector and provides a potential for spread of MRFV to major U.S. corn-growing regions.