Uniform RNA Patterns of Beet Necrotic Yellow Vein Virus in Sugarbeet Roots, but Not in Leaves from Several Plant Species

Abstract

Summary Northern blot hybridization experiments with cDNAs to the four RNA species of a Yugoslavian isolate of beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) revealed identical virus RNA patterns in root extracts from field-grown sugarbeets and sugarbeet seedlings grown in soil from rhizomania-affected fields in various regions in Germany and abroad. In contrast, in leaf extracts from mechanically infected Chenopodium quinoa, Tetragonia expansa and sugarbeet and from a naturally infected sugarbeet we observed great variations in the number, size and relative concentration of the small BNYVV RNAs, which suggests that they may undergo deletion mutations when the virus is propagated in leaf tissues.