August 23, 2004
From: ProMED-mail<promed@promedmail.org>
Source: American Phytopathological Society, Plant Disease Notes [edited] <http://www.apsnet.org/>

Occurrence of radish mosaic virus on cauliflower and turnip crops in Iran

S. Farzadfar and R. Pourrahim, Plant Virology Department, Plant Pests and Diseases Research Institute, P.O. Box 19395-1454, Tehran, Iran; A. R. Golnaraghi, Plant Protection Department, Science and Research Campus, Islamic Azad University, P.O. Box 14515-775, Tehran, Iran; S. Jalali, Agricultural Research Center, Esfahan, Iran; and A. Ahoonmanesh, Plant Pathology Department, College of Agriculture, Esfahan University of Technology, Esfahan, Iran.
Plant Dis. 88:909, 2004; published on-line as D-2004-0607-01N, 2004. Accepted for publication 28 Apr 2004.

During the spring and summer of 2003, symptoms of mosaic, mottle, and crinkle were observed in cauliflower (_Brassica oleracea_) and turnip (_Brassica rapa_) fields in the Qazvin and Esfahan provinces of Iran, respectively. Leaf extracts of these plants, made infective by mechanical inoculation, caused necrotic local lesions on _Chenopodium amaranticolor_, chlorotic ring spot on _Nicotiana tabacum_ cv. Samsun, and chlorotic local
lesions followed by systemic mosaic on _Brassica rapa_ (1).

Using double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) and specific polyclonal antibodies (As-0120 and PV-0355) that were kindly prepared by S. Winter (DSMZ, Braunschweig, Germany), the samples were tested for the presence of Radish mosaic virus (RaMV) (family _Comoviridae_, genus _Comovirus_). ELISA results showed that the original leaf samples and inoculated indicator plants reacted positively to RaMV antibodies. RaMV has been reported in the United States, Japan, and Europe on turnip and other crucifers (1,2).

To our knowledge, this is the lst report of RaMV occurring in Iran.

References:
(1) R. N. Campbell. Radish mosaic virus. No. 121 in: Descriptions of Plant Viruses. CMI/AAB, Surrey, England, 1973.
(2) D. D. Sutic et al. Handb. Plant Virus Diseases. CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1999.

[RaMV occurs naturally only in cruciferous plants but can be detected following inoculation in some non-cruciferous species. It is transmitted by several beetle species (_Phyllotreta_, _Epitrix hirtipennis_, and _Diabrotica undecimpunctata_; _Coleoptera_). It is also transmitted by mechanical inoculation and by grafting, but, it is not transmitted by seed. RaMV occurs in Austria, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Morocco, the USA, the former USSR, and the former Yugoslavia. RaMV is common in turnip crops in Yugoslavia. Disease management is mainly by application of chemical insecticides.

An additional reference: <http://www3.res.bbsrc.ac.uk/webdpv/web/adpv.asp?dpvnum=121> - Mod.DH]