Serotype-specific and General Luteovirus Probes from Cloned cDNA Sequences of Barley Yellow Dwarf Virus

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Abstract
Genome fragments from two serotypes of barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) were cloned and used as hybridization probes. Dot blot assays using 32P-labelled plasmid probes readily detected BYDV in crude sap extracts from infected plants and were at least as sensitive as ELISA. Some clones were specific for either the RPV or the PAV serotypes. Others hybridized not only with the RNA of both serotypes but also with those of three other luteoviruses (beet western yellows, potato leaf roll and soybean dwarf), but they did not hybridize with the RNA of a tobamovirus or Escherichia coli tRNA. These nucleic acid probes therefore have potential for the general diagnosis of infection by members of the luteovirus group as well as detection of specific BYDV serotype infections. The taxonomic implications of the observation that the genomes of different luteoviruses have some conserved regions are discused.