On the morphology of in vivo and in vitro-grown, virus-infected Kober 5BB

• Published in: Journal of plant pathology Vol. 86; no. 4; pp. 327 - 328
• Main Authors: Panattoni, A, D'Anna, F, D'Onofrio, C, Scalabrelli, G, Triolo, E
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01-12-2004
• Subjects: Grapevine fanleaf virus; Grapevine fleck virus; Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 1; Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3; Grapevine virus A
• ISSN: 1125-4653

The influence of different viruses was studied on the growth of artificially infected grapevines using two experimental approaches. Considering that the symptomatology of viral infections is determined by the interaction of factors such as host variety, type of virus, and environmental conditions, uniform experimental material was prepared to minimize variations due to host influence. To this aim, healthy Kober 5BB plants grown under in vivo and in vitro conditions, were artificially infected by grafting with one of the following viruses: Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 1 (GLRaV-1), Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3), Grapevine fleck virus (GFkV), Grapevine fanleaf virus (GFLV), and Grapevine virus A (GVA). In vitro cultures were established from infected cuttings. The sanitary status of in vivo and in vitro plants was assessed by ELISA. Non-infected vines were discarded. Data were collected taking into consideration suitable morphological and biochemical parameters for both experimental conditions. Parameters used for in vivo-grown plants were: cane length, number of nodes, internode length, cane diameter, and number of axillary shoots. Those for in vitro-grown plants were: shoot elongation, weight and number of axes of the explants, number of nodes, proliferation rate, chlorophyll a and b content. Differences of growth parameters were observed in relation to the type of infecting virus in both experimental conditions. In particular, all parameters of in vivo and in vitro plants infected by GFkV, GFLV, and GVA were significantly affected for the worse, as compared with those of the controls. Variations of chlorophyll a and b content were observed in in vitro-grown explants infected by GLRaV-1 and GLRaV-3.