SEROLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL VARIATION BETWEEN AND WITHIN SUBGROUP-I AND SUBGROUP-II STRAINS OF CUCUMBER MOSAIC-VIRUS

Fourteen strains of cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) from Australia have been characterized by their host range and symptomatology. They were classified as subgroup I or II strains by a dot-blot molecular hybridization assay between their total viral RNAs and selected cDNAs. The strains F(NY) and L(NY), both from the USA, were used as the subgroup I- and subgroup II-type strains, respectively. A range of serological tests was used to compare these isolates. Gel immunodiffusion tests, with standard antigens homologous to the antisera prepared against glutaraldehyde-fixed virus of 11 strains, showed that they could be divided into three serogroups on the basis of spur formation in heterologous reactions. Two of the serogroups included either subgroup I or subgroup II isolates, whereas the third serogroup consisted of only one strain (Y(WA)) which was homologous to all the strains tested. Use of heterologous standard antigens in this test failed to show further subgrouping of the antigens. Double-antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA using polyclonal antibodies to distinct virus strains also placed the 14 strains in the same three serogroups. When eight different monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) were used in indirect ELISA, one of them distinguished subgroup-I strains and another distinguished subgroup-II strains; the Y(WA) strain fell into subgroup II. Other MAbs showed narrower or broader specificity. Thus both molecular hybridization with total RNA and specific MAbs may be useful for separating isolates of CMV into subgroups I and II. Spur formation using heterologous standard antigens to the antisera, as well as being more difficult to interpret, was not a reliable criterion for classification.