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Vector Relations

Phenotypic Mixing: Mechanism of Dependent Transmission for Two Related Isolates of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus. J. S. Hu, Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, Present address: Department of Plant Pathology, New York State Agricultural Experiment Station, Cornell University, Geneva, NY 14456; W. F. Rochow(2), P. Palukaitis(3), and R. R. Dietert(4). (2)(3)Department of Plant Pathology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853; (4)Department of Poultry and Avian Sciences, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phytopathology 78:1326-1330. Accepted for publication 5 May 1988. This article is in the public domain and not copyrightable. It may be freely reprinted with customary crediting of the source. The American Phytopathological Society, 1988. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-78-1326.

Preparations from oat plants singly or doubly infected with the MAV and PAV isolates of barley yellow dwarf virus were used to study the mechanism of dependent transmission of MAV by Rhopalosiphum padi in the presence of the related PAV isolate. In two-site enzyme immunosorbent assays, virions trapped by PAV-specific polyclonal antibodies reacted with MAV-specific monoclonal antibodies only in preparations made from doubly infected plants. When such virus preparations were precipitated with antibodies specific for either virus and then tested in membrane-feeding assays, the rate of MAV transmission by R. padi was reduced significantly. These results demonstrated that some virions in the mixed infection contain epitopes from both MAV and PAV and suggested that phenotypic mixing is a mechanism for dependent transmission of MAV together with PAV.