Citrus psorosis is probably caused by a bipartite ssRNA virus

Isolate 90-1-1 Concordia (Argentina) of the citrus psorosis agent was graft-transmitted to citrus and mechanically transmitted to Chenopodium quinoa, which was used as a local lesion assay host. Infected citrus and C. quinoa plant lesions were used as starting materials for the purification of the psorosis-associated agent. In extracts partially purified by differential centrifugation, infectivity was abolished by RNase treatment, even in 0.3 M NaCl, indicating that ssRNA is required for biological activity. The total loss of infectivity produced by proteinase K treatment and the decline in infectivity caused by phenol extraction indicated that protein may be essential for infectivity. When partially purified extracts were subjected to sucrose density gradient centrifugation, infectivity on C. quinoa from certain 2-fraction combinations was higher than expected, compared to the infectivity of the individual fractions. Therefore, infectivity was not associated with a single component but with the combination of at least two components which were distinguishable on sedimentation. The infectious material was present in the top and bottom zones of a sucrose gradient, which on further purification by a second gradient and agarose gel electrophoresis, revealed the presence of a 50-kDa protein. This protein was absent in comparable gradient fractions from healthy plants, and therefore most likely represented the capsid protein of both the top and bottom sucrose gradient zone components. Taken together, these results led to the conclusion that the citrus-psorosis-associated virus (CPsAV) is a multipartite virus, containing ssRNA and a 50-kDa coat protein.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)