Abstract
Maize rayado fino virus (MRFV), present in various countries in Latin America, has shown similarities to corn streak virus that occurs in Brazil, regarding pathogenic, serological and histological characteristics. In the current report both virus were molecularly compared to confirm the similarities between them. MRFV was identified by nucleic acid hybridization in samples of maize tissues exhibiting symptoms of "corn stunt" disease, collected from two Brazilian States - São Paulo and Minas Gerais. The coat protein gene and 3'non-translated region of MRFV were amplified from infected tissues by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) using MRFV-specific primers, and were characterized by nucleotide sequence and phylogenetic analysis of the cloned PCR products. Phylogenetic analysis of the relationships between the Brazilian isolates and isolates obtained from Latin America and the United States reveals a close relationship to isolates from Brazil, Peru and Bolivia. Results support the proposal that the Brazilian corn streak virus be regarded as an isolate of MRFV and provide evidence for the presence of MRFV in "corn stunt' disease in Brazil.
Highlights
A disease identified in maize in the Southern US, and Central and South America, is considered to be a syndrome induced by a complex constituted by a phytoplasma, a spiroplasma, and a virus (Maize rayado fino virus-MRFV), which can all be transmitted simultaneously by their leafhopper vector, mainly Dalbulus maidis De Long & Wolcott (Gamez, 1973; Nault & Bradfute, 1979; Nault et al, 1980)
In Brazil, the virus is important in the “safrinha” system, and together with corn stunt spiroplasma and maize bushy stunt phytoplasma, MRFV formed a complex referred to as “corn stunt” causing significant losses (Massola et al, 1999)
The molecular epidemiology of MRFV was previously examined by performing a phylogenetic analysis of the coat protein gene of fourteen isolates collected from several countries in Latin America and the United States (Hammond et al, 1997)
Summary
A disease identified in maize in the Southern US, and Central and South America, is considered to be a syndrome induced by a complex constituted by a phytoplasma, a spiroplasma, and a virus (Maize rayado fino virus-MRFV), which can all be transmitted simultaneously by their leafhopper vector, mainly Dalbulus maidis De Long & Wolcott (Gamez, 1973; Nault & Bradfute, 1979; Nault et al, 1980). The disease has been detected in all Central American countries, including Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, as well as Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Uruguay, the United States, and Brazil (Gamez, 1980; Gamez et al, 1979; Kogel et al, 1996).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
