A POTYVIRUS INFECTING CHRYSANTHEMUM FRUTESCENS

In recent years symptomatology of probable viral origin was observed in some Ligurian cultivations of Chrysanthemum frutescens L.: the flowers and the growth of the affected plants were normal, but the presence of marked chlorotic spots on the leaves reduced the commercial value of the cut flowers.

Samples of leaves from symptomatic and asymptomatic C. frutescens were used in virological tests such as mechanical inoculation on herbaceous hosts, leaf dip preparation, ultrastructural observations of embedded tissues and immunoelectron microscopy (IEM) using the "decoration" tests.
Of 15 species inoculated belonging to 6 botanical families, only Chenopodium amaranticolor, C. quinoa, and C. frutescens resulted infected by a filamentous virus, (Chrysanthemum spot virus, ChSV) which, in leaf dip preparations, was approximately 750 nm.
The observations of ultrathin sections of both C. amaranticolor and C. frutescens revealed the presence of cylindrical inclusions (pinwheels, tubes and scrolls) together with filamentous virus-like particles in the cytoplasm of parenchymatic cells.
The IEM tests were carried out on crude sap of C. amaranticolor infected leabes using 22 antisera belonging to the potyvirus group.
None of these were completely homologous to ChSV; the sera to bidens mosaic virus (BMV), potato virus Y (PVY), iris severe mosaic virus (ISMV) and carnation vein mottle virus (CVMV) gave a partial decoration of the viral particles

VIII International Symposium on Virus Diseases of Ornamental Plants

A. Bertaccini, M.G. Bellardi, F. Marani, A. Rabiti

https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.1994.377.10