Identification of a Rhabdovirus in Soursop (Annona muricata). E. W. Kitajima, Departmento de Biologia Celular, Universidade de Brasília, 70919 Brasília, DF. Claudia Renata F. Martins, and Antonio A. Santos. Departmento de Biologia Celular, Universidade de Brasília, 70919 Brasília, DF; and Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuaria do Ceara (EPACE), Av. Rui Barbosa 1246, 60000 Fortaleza, CE, Brazil. Plant Dis. 77:276-278. Accepted for publication 25 September 1992. Copyright 1993 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-77-0276.

Soursop (Annona muricata) plants with yellow blotches on the leaves were found in a small experimental orchard of Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecuaria do Ceara, at Pacajus, state of Ceara. Symptoms were reproduced by mechanically inoculating soursop seedlings and by grafting on soursop, sweetsop (A. squamosa), and biriba (Rollinia deliciosa). No seed transmission was observed. Rhabdoviruslike particles were consistently found in leaf-dip preparations from the diseased soursop plants collected in the field and from experimentally infected soursop, sweetsop, and biriba. In thin sections of leaf tissues from naturally or experimentally infected plants, particles were found in the cytoplasm within membrane-bound cavities. Based on these results, we conclude that yellow blotch of soursop is caused by a rhabdovirus unrelated sero-logically to maize mosaic, lettuce necrotic yellows, and sow thistle yellow vein viruses.

Keyword(s): soursop yellow blotch virus.