Presence of Passiflora Latent Virus and a Serologically Distinct Strain of Maracuja Mosaic Virus in Passiflora spp. in Florida. A. A. St Hill, Agricultural Officer, Plant Pathology Department, Central Experiment Station, Centeno, Arima, Trinidad & Tobago. F. W. Zettler, M. S. Elliott, M. A. Petersen, R. H. Li, and J. Bird. Professor, Senior Biological Scientist, Senior Biological Scientist, Graduate Assistant, Plant Pathology Department, University of Florida, Gainesville 32611; and Department of Plant Protection, University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, PR 00928. Plant Dis. 76:843-847. Accepted for publication 18 February 1992. Copyright 1992 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-76-0843.

Rigid rod-shaped particles with a main maximum length at 312 nm were seen in negatively stained leaf extracts of virus-infected Passiflora incarnata plants growing in Dade County, Florida. The particles were from the tobamovirus, maracuja mosaic virus (MrMV). This isolate (MrMV-FL) induced systemic symptoms in manually inoculated plants of Nicotiana benthamiana, Passiflora edulis f. edulis, P. edulis f. flavicarpa, P. foetida, P. incarnata, and P. quadrangularis. MrMV-FL and an isolate of MrMV from Peru cross-reacted in reciprocal serological tests. In immunodiffusion tests, homologous precipitin lines spurred over those of heterologous ones. In sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, purified preparations of MrMV-FL yielded two protein bands with molecular weights of 17.5 and 16.5 kDa. A carlavirus, passiflora latent virus (PLV-FL), was detected in Passiflora × Incense plants from Alachua County, Florida. Passiflora × Incense is a sterile hybrid of P. incarnata × P. cincinnata. Flexuous rod-shaped particles with a main maximum length at 651 nm were seen in negatively stained leaf extracts of Passiflora × Incense. Virus-induced systemic symptoms occurred in Chenopodium quinoa, P. edulis f. edulis, P. edulis f. flavicarpa, P. foetida, and P. incarnata. Antisera to PLV-FL and a PLV isolate from Germany reacted in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests with PLV-FL-infected leaf extracts of Passiflora × Incense.

Keyword(s): cytoplasmic inclusions, passionfruit potyviruses.