Preliminary molecular characterization of some Citrus tristeza Closterovirus isolates infecting Croatian citrus

Abstract

Citrus tristeza Closterovirus (CTV) is widespread in major citrus-growing regions of the world often causing destructive diseases. Citrus samples were taken from orchards in the Croatian coastal region. CTV was detected in two symptomless field trees of Satsuma mandarins and one diseased lemon tree. Double-stranded RNA was isolated from the field trees and the dsRNA patterns were compared in polyacrylamide gels. The same dsRNA extracts were used as templates in RT-PCR experiments amplifying the CTV coat protein sequence. Amplicons were subjected to SSCP and RFLP analyses. The results indicate greater similarity between CTV isolates from Satsuma mandarins than between these two and the lemon isolate.

Keywords

• citrus tristeza closterovirus (ctv)
• dsrna
• rflp
• rt-pcr
• sscp