SEROLOGICAL COMPARISON OF TOSPOVIRUSES WITH POLYCLONAL ANTIBODIES PRODUCED AGAINST THE MAIN STRUCTURAL PROTEINS OF TOMATO SPOTTED WILT VIRUS

A new purification procedure for the tospoviruses of serogroups II and III was developed. SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of purified tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV; serogroup I), groundnut ringspot vir us (GRSV; serogroup II), tomato chlorotic spot virus (TCSV; serogroup II) and impatiens necrotic spot virus (INSV; serogroup III) showed tha t the glycoprotein G2 of serogroup II members differs significantly in size from that of the serogroup I virus. Western immunoblot analysis using polyclonal antisera produced against purified glycoproteins TSWV -G1 and G2 as well as peptides of hydrophilic sequences of TSWV-G1 and G2 expressed in Escherichia coli demonstrated a higher homology among st G1 of different serogroups than for G2. These results are supported by comparing the glycoprotein gene sequences of different serogroups.