NONRADIOACTIVE MOLECULAR HYBRIDIZATION DETECTION OF CARNATION MOTTLE VIRUS IN INFECTED CARNATIONS AND ITS COMPARISON TO SEROLOGICAL AND BIOLOGICAL TECHNIQUES

A non-radioactive molecular hybridization method was developed to dete ct carnation mottle virus (CarMV) in carnation plants. This method was compared to the standard ELISA test and biological assays. For crude plant extracts, the molecular hybridization technique proved to be at least 125 times more sensitive than double-antibody sandwich enzyme-li nked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA). The method was adapted to avoid the necessity to clarify the samples by centrifugation and to use pipe ttes to load them. By introducing this modification, the hybridization assay was found to be a suitable method for routine virus detection. The relative benefits of using this procedure for large-scale indexing are discussed.