ISHS Acta Horticulturae 386: XVI International Symposium on Fruit Tree Virus diseases
ASIAN PRUNUS LATENT VIRUS: AN UNUSUAL POTYVIRUS DETECTED IN GERMPLASM FROM EAST ASIA. |
| Authors: | V. Hari, M.H. Abdel-Ghaffar, L. Levy, A. Hadidi |
| Abstract:
Earlier work by Hadidi and Levy (1994) indicated that certain peach and Prunus mume germplasm from China and Japan showed evidence for the presence of a new potyvirus which was given the name Asian prunus latent virus (APLV). This virus reacted positively with some plum pox virus (PPV) coat protein antisera in ELISA tests, but other tests based on PCR indicated that this virus was not PPV but possibly a different potyvirus that is latent. In this report, we will present data showing some of the unusual features of this virus. Thus, extracts of leaves of plants infected by different isolates of this virus tested positive for the presence of a protein of Mr 68kD that reacted with antisera to the cylindrical inclusion (CI) protein of tobacco etch virus (TEV), as well as maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV) in Western blots. ELISA tests also indicated the presence in these tissues of a protein that cross reacted with the antisera to the CI protein of TEV as well as MDMV. However, we were unable to detect cytoplasmic inclusions in thin sections of infected tissue although, abundant numbers could be detected in thin sections of PPV or TEV-infected leaves. Immunogold localization tests also failed to reveal the presence of CI proteins in the APLV-infected tissue cells. Further, antisera to the coat protein of TEV and MDMV failed to react with any protein in the infected samples. And lastly, we found only a few flexeous virus particles in tissue homogenates that had been subjected to partial purification methods normally used to purify potyviruses. On the basis of our data, we speculate that APLV is an unusual potyvirus in that the CI protein translated from the virus genome fails to polymerize into the cytoplasmic inclusions that are characteristic of potyviruses. Further, it is possible that this virus may have defects that prevent the assembly of virus particles or may have unstable particles which break up during the purification process. Further studies are in progress. | |
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