FINE FLEXUOUS THREADLIKE PARTICLES IN CELLS OF PLANTS AND INSECT HOSTS INFECTED WITH RICE HOJA BLANCA VIRUS

Numerous bundles of long flexuous threadlike particles were found both in cells of rice leaves infected with hoja blanca and in its infective insect vector. The threadlike particles are approximately 8 to 10 mμ in diameter and variable in length. They appeared in the epidermis, palisade cells, spongy parenchyma, phloem, and vessels of diseased leaves. In the plant cells, the threadlike particles appeared in the nuclei and cytoplasm, but not in the chloroplasts, or mitochondria. In the insects, the threads were found in the lumen and epithelial cells of the intestine, probably in the filter chamber. These threads may be the particles of the rice hoja blanca virus. © 1969.