Elimination of Apple Chlorotic Leafspot Virus from Apple Shoot Cultures by Ribavirin. A. J. Hansen, Agriculture Canada, Research Station, Summerland, BC V0H 1Z0. W. D. Lane, Agriculture Canada, Research Station, Summerland, BC V0H 1Z0. Plant Dis. 69:134-135. Accepted for publication 23 July 1984. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-69-134.

Apple shoot cultures systemically infected with apple chlorotic leafspot virus were grown for two periods of about 4 wk each on Murashige and Skoog medium to which the virus inhibitor ribavirin had been added at 10, 20, 40, or 80 μM. Sequential indexing showed that all treated shoots were virus-free after the first and second treatment periods. The resulting rooted shoots remained virus-free during subsequent transfers to ribavirin-free medium, to greenhouse conditions, and to the field. Phytotoxicity was observed in treatments with 40 and 80 μM ribavirin. Twenty cultured shoots treated with the sugar-free ribavirin base remained infected, whereas 20 of 137 untreated control cultures became virus-free. Results indicate that ribavirin treatment of cultured shoots is a reliable and simple method for eliminating apple chlorotic leafspot virus from infected apple.

Keyword(s): chemotherapy.