IDENTIFICATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF WHEAT DWARF VIRUS FROM FRANCE USING A RAPID METHOD FOR GEMINIVIRUS DNA PREPARATION

Using molecular analyses, we identified wheat dwarf geminivirus (WDV), a leafhopper-transmitted geminivirus prevalent in northern and easter n Europe, as the causative agent of a recent wheat dwarf outbreak in F rance. A novel, simple, and rapid method for purification of circular DNA from small amounts of plant tissue was described and was applied t o clone the genome of WDV-F. The cloned WDV-F DNA was shown to be infe ctious on wheat (Triticum aestivum) following agroinoculation, and pro geny virus was transmitted by leafhoppers. The DNA sequence of the WDV -F genome consists of 2,750 bases, differs by only 1.3 and 1.4% from t he WDV isolates from Sweden and Czechoslovakia, respectively, and repr esents a new isolate of WDV.