Detection of strawberry vein banding virus by polymerase chain reaction and dot blot hybridization

Strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV) is one of seventeen members of the family Caulimoviridae. Natural infection with the virus is known in Fragaria species only. Infections caused by SVBV are often symptomless (1), but their significance increases in mixed infections with strawberry crinkle or strawberry latent C viruses (2,3). This virus has been originally found on strawberries in USA and firstly described by Frazier (4), but it is probably world-wide distributed by planting or breeding materials. SVBV has been observed on cultivated strawberries in North America, Australia, Brazil, Japan (5) and recently in Europe (6,7). The concentration of SVBV in infected plants is usually very low. Its detection by ELISA is impossible because of lack of specific antibodies. Evidence of the caulimovirus nature of SVBV has been confirmed by its circular dsDNA genome, shape and size of viral particles (8), presence of cytoplasmic inclusion bodies typical for caulimoviruses, and distant serological relationship with cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV, 9). In this paper we present detection of SVBV by combination of two detection methods--polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and dot blot hybridization with a non-radioactive probe.