Establishment of a relationship between grapevine leafroll closteroviruses1 and 3 by use of monoclonal antibodies

Five stable hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) spe cific for GLRaV-1, one of the agents involved in the aetiology of grapevine leafroll disease, were produced by fusing a nonsecreting myeloma cell line with spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with purified GLRaV-1. The Ma bs were characterized for their recognition of virus coat protein by DAS-EL ISA and Western blotting. Mab (1G10) reacted specifically in ELISA, immuno- electron microscopy and immunoblotting with both GLRaV-1 and GLRaV-3 coat p roteins. Mab 1C4 detected 25 of the 33 GLRaV-1 isolates, while Mab 1B7 reac ted with 32 isolates including the eight isolates not recognized by Mab 1C4 . Two of these hybridoma lines (2F11 and 2F3) are now used routinely for th e immunodiagnosis of GLRaV-1.