Institut für Epidemiologie und Pathogendiagnostik
The ultrastructure of AV-1 infection in asparagus has been revealed and has been compared with the one in indicator plants. The cylindrical inclusion protein (CI), a core factor in viral replication, localized within the cytoplasm and in systemic infections adjacent to plasmodesmata. The majority of isolates referred to pathotype I (PI). These triggered a hypersensitive resistance in inoculated leaves of Chenopodium spp. and were incapable to infect Nicotiana spp. Only PII and PIII infected N. benthamiana systemically but differed in their virulence when transmitted to Chenopodium spp. The newly identified PIII generated amorphous inclusion bodies and degraded chloroplasts during systemic infection but not in local lesions of infected Chenopodium spp.
Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture
