Failure of Sugarcane Mosaic Virus to Survive in Cultured Sugarcane Tissue. Jack L. Dean, Research Plant Pathologist, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Canal Point, FL 33438. Plant Dis. 66:1060-1061. Accepted for publication 30 March 1982. 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, 1982. DOI: 10.1094/PD-66-1060.

Explants taken from immature spindle tissues above the apical meristerm of sugarcane plants systemically infected with sugarcane mosaic virus were callused on Murashige-Skoog culture medium. Of 57 plants regenerated from this callus, 55 were virus-free as indicated by lack of symptoms after 6 mo of growth in soil in the greenhouse and by bioassay on sorghum test plants. Bioassays of spindle tissues similar to those of the explants showed a steep infectivity gradient ranging from very low just above the growing point to very high about 4.5 cm above the growing point. The spindle tissues exhibited a reverse gradient with respect to callus formation, so that most of the callus came from tissues with the greatest infectivity. It was concluded that sugarcane mosaic virus was present in many, if not all, of the explants from which virus-free plants were regenerated.

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