Coelectrophoresis of double-stranded RNA from maize rough dwarf and rice black-streaked dwarf viruses.

Rice black-streaked dwarf virus was shown to contain ten dsRNA segments in a genome with an approximate molecular weight of 18.96 x IO8 or 19.66 x 10’. depending on the buffer employed for electrophoresis in polyacrylamide gels. In coelectrophoreses of genomes from rice black-streaked dwarf and maize rough dwarf virus, all segments coincided electrophoretically except segments 1, 3, and 10. In an earlier study of maize rough dwarf virus that had been maintained in a greenhouse, two types of genomes were distinguished by a slight difference in the electrophoresis of segment 10. In the present study, the virus samples were collected directly from the field, and they showed the same two kinds of segment 10.