Detection of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus in Lysates of Plants and Insects by Hybridization with a Viral DNA Probe. H. Czosnek, Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, P.O. Box 12, Israel. R. Ber, N. Navot, D. Zamir, Y. Antignus, and S. Cohen. Department of Field and Vegetable Crops, Faculty of Agriculture, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Rehovot 76100, P.O. Box 12, Israel; and Department of Virology, Agriculture Research Organization, Bet-Dagan, Israel. Plant Dis. 72:949-951. Accepted for publication 17 February 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0949.

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) was diagnosed in tomato plants and in insect vectors by use of a virus-specific probe. By molecular hybridization with radiolabeled TYLCV DNA, we detected viral nucleic acids in lysates prepared from infected tomato plant tissues such as leaves, roots, stems, shoot a pex, and cotyledons and showed that the virus is not evenly distributed throughout the plant. The TYLCV probe also detected the virus in lysates of individual whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) vectors. The TYLCV-specific DNA probe can serve as a powerful tool in monitoring the tomato yellow leaf curl disease.

Keyword(s): diagnostics, geminivirus, plant viral disease.