PURIFICATION AND SOME PROPERTIES OF PEA LEAFROLL VIRUS

Pea leafroll virus (PeLRV) was purified from infected pea plants using polyethylene glycol precipitation of crude extracts followed by clarification with chloroform-butanol, differential centrifugation and density-gradient centrifugation. Higher yields of virus were obtained from roots than from shoots. The A260/A280 was 1.83. Particles were isometric with a diameter of 27 nm in preparations stained with uranyl acetate. An antiserum with a homologous titre of 1/512 in gel-diffusion tests was prepared. PeLRV was precipitated by antisera to soybean dwarf virus and beet western yellows virus but did not react with antiserum to a New Zealand strain of barley yellow dwarf virus. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of disrupted virions revealed a single RNA component with a relative molecular mass of about 2.4×106 and a single polypeptide with a relative molecular mass of 30-35×103. © 1979 Koninklijke Nederlandse Planteziektenkundige Vereniging.