G. Cook et al., DOUBLE-STRANDED-RNA COMPRISING THE PUTATIVE AVOCADO VIRUS-1 HAS A HIGH-DEGREE OF SEQUENCE HOMOLOGY TO THE AVOCADO GENOME, Plant Pathology, 43(5), 1994, pp. 913-916
The hypothesis that the double-stranded (ds) RNA isolated from avocado
is indicative of infection by RNA plant viruses has never been proven
. However, it has not been disproven and the different dsRNAs are stil
l known as putative avocado viruses (AV) 1, 2 and 3. We have probed re
striction fragments of avocado cellular DNA with cloned P-32-labelled
AV1-specific cDNA and discovered that the dsRNA nucleotide sequences a
re also present on plant DNA. Our evidence contradicts the hypothesis
that viruses are responsible for the formation of the dsRNA species in
avocado.