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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Washington, D.C. » National Arboretum » Floral and Nursery Plants Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #150004

Title: CALLA LILY (ZANTEDESCHIA SPP.), A NEW HOST FOR CARNATION MOTTLE VIRUS

Author
item CHEN, C - TAICHUNG DIS AG IMP STA
item KO, W - TAICHUNG DIS AG IMP STA
item Hsu, Hei Ti
item LIN, C - NAT'L CHUNG-HSING UNIV
item JAN, F - NAT'L CHUNG-HSING UNIV

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/30/2003
Publication Date: 12/3/2003
Citation: Chen, C.C., Ko, W.F., Lin, C.Y., Jan, F.J., Hsu, H.T. 2003. First Report of Carnation Mottle Virus in Calla Lily (Zantedeschia spp.). Plant Dis. 87:1539.

Interpretive Summary: Calla lilies are an important floral crop being used as potted plants and cut flowers worldwide. They are susceptible to many viruses. In recent surveys, virus-like symptoms were observed in central and southern parts of Taiwan. Symptoms of diseased calla lilies include mosaic, light yellow spots, and yellow mottling and ringspots on leaves. A virus culture was isolated from diseased calla lilies. The virus measured 34-35 nm in diameter. It induces local lesions on inoculated leaves and systemic infection of Dianthus caryophyllus and D. chinensis plants. Electron microscope studies, serological assays and molecular analysis indicate that the virus infecting calla lilies is an isolate of Carnation mottle virus (CarMV). The occurrence of CarMV in calla lilies has direct implication to the economically important nursery and floral industry worldwide. This research is related to Plant Health National Program 303.

Technical Abstract: Calla lilies are susceptible to several viruses. Recently, virus-like symptoms including yellow mottling, light yellow spot, yellow ringspot and mosaic were observed on leaves of field grown calla lilies. A virus culture was isolated from diseased calla lilies and established in Chenopodium quinoa Willd. and Nicotiana benthamiana Domin.. The virus induced chlorotic local lesions on C. quinoa, C. ficifolium Sm., C. amaranticolor Coste & Reyn, Cucurbita moschata Duchesne Poir, Lisianthus russellianum (Don.) Griseb, Phaseolus angularis Wight, Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek., and V. angularis Willd. In addition to the localized chlorotic spots on inoculated leaves, systemic invasion of the virus was also observed 8 to 10 days after inoculation in Dianthus caryophyllus L., D. chinensis L., and Glycine max Merr. In N. benthamiana the only symptom observed was wilting. Spherical particles about 34 to 35 nm in diameter were observed in crude extracts of leaves of diseased calla lilies and in the cytoplasm, but not in the nuclei in ultrathin sections of virus-infected leaf tissues of C. quinoa and N. benthamiana. Purified virus showed one single structural polypeptide with an Mr of 41.6 kDa. The viral antigen reacted positively with its homologous antiserum and an antiserum against Carnation mottle virus (CarMV, Agdia, Inc.) in double antibody sandwich-enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Using primers specific to coat protein (CP) gene of CarMV, an expected viral CP gene product of 1.05 kb was amplified by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction from total RNA isolated from infected N. benthamiana. Comparisons of the 1047-nucleotide CP gene with those of 15 CarMV isolates available in GenBank showed 94.6-98.2% nucleotide identity and 94.8-96.8% amino acid identity. Results from current studies indicate that the virus infecting calla lilies is an isolate of CarMV. Literature survey shows that this is the first report of CarMV infection in calla lilies.