Abstract
Dot blot hydridization was applied to the detection of peanut mottle virus (PMV) and peanut stripe virus (PStV) in peanut seeds. Both viruses can be detected readily in 1 mg of infected seed tissue and when extracts from seeds have been diluted 1/62,500 with buffer. One part of an infected seed can be reliably detected when it is mixed with 99 parts of healthy seeds. This sensitivity is 8-10 times greater than that achieved by use of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The stringent hybridization conditions of this procedure differentiated PMV and PStV in infected peanut seeds, even though the two viruses share considerable nucleotide sequences homology.