Ultrastructural Changes in Maize Leaf Cells Infected with Maize Dwarf Mosaic Virus and Sugarcane Mosaic Virus

Abstract

Plant viruses create many changes in the morphology of the plant cell once the infection process has begun. This paper describes and compares the ultrastructural changes induced in maize cells by two isolates of Maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV), Spanish (MDMV-Sp) and Polish (MDMV-P), and one isolate of Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) at 10 and 42 days post-inoculation: the concentration and arrangement of virus particles, inclusion bodies associated with infection, and other cytological alterations. The most important difference between maize cells infected with MDMV isolates and with SCMV-P1 was in the form of cytoplasmic cylindrical inclusions. In cells infected with MDMV only typical inclusions such as pinwheels and scrolls were observed, but laminar aggregates were also present in SCMV-infected cells. No virus particles were found in plant cell organelles. Specific virion arrangements occurred in cells infected with MDMV-Sp and SCMV. The most interesting new finding was of specific amorphous inclusions in the cytoplasm of MDMV-Sp-infected cells, which clearly differentiated the two MDMV isolates studied.