Abstract
Gel electrophoresis of virus-associated polypeptides enabled the detection and differentiation of 3 potyviruses, including iris mild mosaic virus (IMMV), iris severe mosaic virus (ISMV), and bean yellow mosaic virus (BYMV), and a carlavirus, narcissus latent virus (NLV), in leaf extracts from bulbous irises. In addition to the potyvirus coat protein, specific bands identical to those obtained from purified cylindrical inclusions were revealed. For NLV, a specific band was detected in addition to that of the virus coat protein. The method was employed to test about 100 plants and yielded reproducible results.