Mechanical transmission of poleroviruses

Previously, transmission of poleroviruses has relied solely on the use of t heir aphid vectors. Biolistic inoculation allowed for the first time the me chanical transmission of Beet western yellows virus (BWYV) and Potato leafr oll virus (PLRV) to several host plants. Inoculation with purified preparat ions and viral RNA extracts of PLRV resulted in 30-50% systemically infecte d Nicotiana occidentalis P1 plants and 15-30% infected Nicotiana clevelandi i plants. Particle bombardment was also used successfully to infect N. clev elandii plants with in vitro RNA transcripts of full-length cDNA of BWYV. ( C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.