Association of Double-stranded RNA and Filamentous Viruslike Particles with Dodonaea Yellows Disease

Abstract

Dodonaea viscosa in the Hawaiian Islands is affected by a severe yellowing disease with symptoms resembling those of diseases caused by mycoplasmalike organisms in other woody hosts. Double stranded RNA with an estimated molecular weight of 3×10 6 was detected in plants displaying disease symptoms but not in asymptomatic plants. Viruslike particles 16 nm in diameter and 700 nm in modal length were also isolated from diseased plants but were not present in extracts of healthy plants