Disease Note.

First Report of Bean Red Node in the Eastern United States. R. N. Raid, Everglades Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Belle Glade 33430 . L. L. McDaniel, Virology Department, American Type Culture Collection, 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, MD 20852 G. S. Nuessly and B. T. Scully, Everglades Research and Education Center, University of Florida, Belle Glade 33430. Plant Dis. 79:539. Accepted for publication 13 February 1995. Copyright 1995 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-79-0539A.

During spring 1994, symptoms characteristic of bean red node (BRN) were observed in a commercial snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L. ‘Opus’) planting east of Belle Glade, FL. Symptoms included reddening of nodes at the stem, necrosis of primary and trifoliate leaf veins, and sunken reddish lesions on bean pods. Pods were frequently shriveled and deformed and yield loss was 100%. Isometric, viruslike particles (VLP) were isolated and partially purified from collected field samples. The partially purified VLP were inoculated to Chenopodium quinoa Willd., P. vulgaris (cv. Bountiful), and Nicotiana tabacum L. ‘Samsun’ and produced symptoms in each plant identical to those expressed by these plants infected with the bean red node strain of tobacco streak ilarvirus (TSV) (I). Dot-blot assays were performed using extracts from healthy tobacco, and tobacco plants artificially inoculated with the VLP or TSV. Positive reactions were obtained using antiserum ATCC-PVAS-360 with extracts from VLP-infected N. tabacum and the positive control (ATCC PV-360), but not with extracts from healthy plants. Incidence of the disease was minor (<1%) in other commercial plantings in Florida’s Everglades Agricultural Area. However, BRN-infected pods were confirmed, indicating this was not an isolated outbreak. Unusually high thrip populations (Frankliniella sp.) in the area may have resulted in the spread of this disease (2). To our knowledge, this is the first report of BRN east of the Mississippi.