Studies on citrus leprosis rhabdovirus
Studies were carried out to try to better characterize citrus leprosis ?rhabdovirus (EPPO A1 quarantine pest). The virus can be mechanically transmitted to herbaceous hosts which all develop necrotic local lesions: Chenopodium amaranticolor, C. album, C. capitatum, C. foliosum, C. murale, C. polyspermum, C. quinoa and Gomphrena globosa, and also to sweet orange (Citrus sinensis). Mechanical inoculation was improved by growing test plants at temperatures above 25°C. C. quinoa appeared as the most reliable indicator plant, however back-inoculation to citrus was not successful (back-inoculation to sweet orange was only possible from sweet orange). Host-plant studies were also done on citrus and non-citrus plants (Camellia japonica, Magnolia arbustifolia, Palicourea rigida, Pera glabrata, Aspidosperma macrocarpum) showing leprosis-like symptoms. Mechanical transmission of the virus to herbaceous plants was achieved from symptomatic citrus plants but not from other plants. Attempts to purify the virus from field samples of symptomatic citrus were so far unsuccessful. However, in PEG-concentrated preparations a 25 kD protein could be observed in SDS-PAGE electrophoresis (and not in healthy controls). Observations using electronic microscopy support the view that citrus leprosis virus may be a non-enveloped rhabdovirus
Sources
Lovisolo, O.; Colariccio, A.; Chagas, C.M.; Rossetti, V.; Kitajima, E.W.; Harakava, R. (1996) Partial characterization of citrus leprosis virus.
Proceedings of the 13th IOCV Conference, 1996, 179-188.