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Purification and Identification of a South African Isolate of Watermelon Mosaic Virus – Morocco
Author(s) -
Meer Francine W.,
Garnett Helen M.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of phytopathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.53
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1439-0434
pISSN - 0931-1785
DOI - 10.1111/j.1439-0434.1987.tb04440.x
Subject(s) - biology , cucumis , cucurbitaceae , cucurbita pepo , cucumber mosaic virus , virus , zucchini yellow mosaic virus , papaya ringspot virus , chenopodium , myzus persicae , chenopodium quinoa , botany , lagenaria , virology , plant virus , potyvirus , weed , aphid
Cucurbit crops in South Africa are seriously affected by a flexuous rod‐shaped virus 706 to 770 nm long which causes the plant to be stunted, the leaves to display symptoms of chlorotic mosaic, dark green blisters and malformation, and fruit to be malformed. The virus was purified from infected Cucurbita pepo by extraction in 0.5 M borate buffer, pH 8, containing ethylenediaminotetra‐acetic acid and mercapto‐ethanol, clarification with chloroform, addition of Triton X‐100, sedimentation by ultracentrifugation for which a sucrose cushion was used and centrifugation in 10 to 40 % sucrose gradients. The virus was mechanically transmitted to a limited host range with Chenopodium album, C. amaranticolor, C. quinoa and Gomphrena globosa being the only hosts infected outside the Cucurbitaceae. Luffa cylindrica, Cucumis metuliferus, Coccinia sessilifolia and Citrullus ecirrhosus all members of the Cucurbitaceae, were not infected by the virus. The virus was non‐persistently transmitted by Myzus persicae , produced pinwheel and bundle inclusions in the plant cell cytoplasm and has a single coat protein with a molecular weight of 36,000 daltons and a degraded lighter component of 26,000 daltons. Serological comparisons with antiserum to watermelon mosaic virus 2, Papaya ringspot virus strain W and watermelon mosaic virus Morocco (WMV‐Mor.) identified the virus as an isolate of WMV‐Mor. It was found that WMV‐Mor. is the dominant virus in all the main cucurbit producing areas of South Africa which were surveyed.