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Techniques

An Improved Method for Purification of Sweet Potato Feathery Mottle Virus Directly from Sweet Potato. J. Cohen, Department of Virology, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel; R. Salomon, and G. Loebenstein. Department of Virology, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel. Phytopathology 78:809-811. Accepted for publication 6 January 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-78-809.

Sweet potato feathery mottle virus was purified from infected sweet potato leaves using short CsCl step gradient centrifugations with a minimum of low-speed centrifugations. Virus yields of 50–100 mg/kg from sweet potato leaves were obtained, compared with 5–10 mg/kg from Ipomoea nil leaves. The virus thus obtained was highly infectious, with little healthy material in it. Antiserum produced to purified virus had a titer of 1:4,096 in ring precipitin tests and was used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and in immunosorbent electron microscopy.