Transmission of cucumber leaf spot virus by Olpidium radicale

The ability of zoospores of four cultures of Olpidium radicale and one of O. brassicae to transmit viruses acquired in vitro from dilute virus solutions was compared. Transmission was demonstrated by infectivity and serological assays of the roots of cucumber seedlings 6 days after inoculation. A bulk culture of O. radicale, from cucumber plant roots collected near Nantes, France, a single-sporangial culture derived from it, and a single-sporangial culture from melon plant roots collected near Woodland, California, U.S.A., transmitted cucumber leaf spot virus (CLSV) and the cucumber fruit streak strain of CLSV (CLSV-FS). A bulk culture of O. radicale from melon plant roots collected at Montfavet, France, did not transmit CLSV or CLSV-FS. All four cultures transmitted cucumber necrosis and melon necrotic spot viruses, used as positive controls, but they did not transmit cucumber soil-borne, squash necrosis, petunia asteroid mosaic or tobacco necrosis viruses. In each of the trials a single-sporangial culture of O. brassicae from lettuce plant grown in California transmitted only tobacco necrosis virus.