Tests for Seedborne Transmission of Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus

Abstract

Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV) was first reported by Lisa et al. (1981) in Italy and by Lecoq et al. (1981) in France. It was found in Connecticut in 1982 (Provvidenti et al., 1983) and, subsequently, in many other parts of the United States (Provvidenti, 1986; Provvidenti et al., 1984a), including Hawaii (Ullman et al., 1991) and Guam (Yudin et al., 1990). ZYMV also has been found on cucurbits in Australia (Greber et al., 1987), Bangladesh (Akanda et al., 1991), Canada (Stobbs and van Schagan, 1990), Czechoslovakia (Chod and Jokes, 1991), Egypt (Provvidenti et al., 1984b), Germany (Lecoq et al., 1983), Guadaloupe (Quoit-Douine et al., 1986), Holland (Schrijnwerkers et al., 1991), Iran (Ghorbani, 1988), Israel (Lecoq et al., 1983), Japan (Ohtsu and Sake, 1985), Jordan (Al-Muss, 1989), Lebanon (Lesemann et al., 1983), Mauritius (Lisa and Lecoq, 1984), Mexico (Sanchez, 1990), Morocco (Lecoq et al., 1983), Saudi Arabia (Abdulsalam et al., 1988), Singapore (Wong and Lee, 1992), Spain (Luis-Arteaga, 1990), Syria (Katul and Makkouk, 1987), Taiwan (Huang et al., 1986), Turkey (Davis, 1986), the United Kingdom (Lisa and Lecoq, 1984), Venezuela (Hernandez et al., 1989), and Yemen (Alhubaishi et al., 1988). Its apparent rapid spread to so many distant countries on five continents and its erratic incidence suggests that ZYMV maybe seedborne. Seed transmission of this virus would have very serious implications for seed specialists, growers, and others, since this devastating disease has caused widespread losses (Provvidenti et al., 1984a). Several researchers have attempted to determine whether ZYMV can be transmitted via seed and to what extent. In this paper we review the work that we and others have done on this subject. Seed transmission tests in Cucurbita species. There are conflicting reports for seed transmission of ZYMV in Cucurbita species. Nameth et al. (1985) tested 1400 seed from several squash cultivars (C. pepo L.) infected with ZYMV. Although enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) confirmed that parent plants were infected with this virus, all their progenies were found to be free of ZYMV. Conversely, Davis and Mizuki (1986a, 1986b), working with progenies of ZYMVinfected C. pepo ‘Black Beauty’ plants, reported that 246 of 1298 seedlings were in-