PCR detection of tomato ringspot nepovirus
A polymerase chain reaction technique (RT-PCR) has been developed in United States to detect tomato ringspot nepovirus (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) in herbaceous and woody plant tissues. The isolates studied were chosen to represent the five reported serotypes of TomRSV and also a variety of isolates of economic significance (from apple, grapevine, plum, peach, apricot and raspberry). All isolates were successfully detected and no reaction was observed with healthy plant tissues or with a closely related virus (cherry rasp leaf nepovirus). This test can detect as little as 60 pg of target sequence in Malus sylvestris leaf tissue. The authors felt that the high sensitivity and specificity of this PCR method give a new and powerful tool to study tomato ringspot nepovirus.
Sources
Griesbach, R.A. (1995) Detection of tomato ringspot virus by polymerase chain reaction.
Plant Disease, 79 (10), 1054-1056.