Unusual Strain of Cucumber Mosaic Virus Causing Flower-Breaking Symptoms in Wild Violets. R. A. Valverde, Graduate Assistant, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701. . Plant Dis. 68:913-915. Accepted for publication 29 May 1984. Copyright 1984 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-68-913.

Wild’ violets (Viola spp.) showing flower-breaking symptoms were found in many locations in northwestern Arkansas. A virus with some properties similar to cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) was isolated from infected flowers. Particle size and shape, sedimentation coefficient, and molecular weights of protein subunits and four RNA components were similar to those of other CMV strains. The virus, designated CMV-Vi, differed from the other CMV strains in its relatively narrow host range, high instability, and serology. In Ouchterlony double-diffusion tests, CMV-Vi reacted only with its homologous antiserum and not with those of four CMV strains. Other strains of CMV reacted with CMV-Vi antiserum. Five Viola spp., V. papilionaceae, V. sagittata, V. sororia, V. triloba, and V. viarum, were found naturally infected with CMV-Vi.

Keyword(s): cucumoviruses, electron microscopy.