Potato leafroll virus is a member of the polerovirus genus. The isometric virion is formed by a coat protein encapsidating single-stranded, positive-sense, mono-partite genomic RNA with covalently attached viral protein at the 5' end. The coat protein of the virus exists in two forms: i) a 23 kDa protein, the product of the coat protein gene, and ii) a 78 kDa protein, the product of the coat pr...

Tuber-bearing potato species possess several genes that can be exploited to improve the genetic background of the cultivated potato Solanum tuberosum. Among them, S. bulbocastanum and S. commersonii are well known for their strong resistance to environmental stresses. However, scant information is available for these species in terms of genome organization, gene function, and regulatory network...

The genes encoding the helper component (HC) proteins of two strains of Potato virus Y (PVY) were cloned and the proteins expressed from a vector derived from Potato virus X (PVX). The expressed HC contained six N-terminal histidine residues to facilitate purification by metal affinity chromatography. Approximately 2-4 microg/g of purified HC was obtained from leaves of Nicotiana benthamiana pl...

Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) causes sporadic but serious disease in Australian potato crops. TSWV is naturally spread to potato by thrips of which Thrips tabaci is the most important. Prior studies indicated possible non-preference of potato cultivars to T. tabaci. Select potato cultivars were assessed for non-preference to T. tabaci in paired and group choice trials. Cultivars 'Bismark', '...

Petroleum-oil sprays and fogs are used increasingly to control insect pests of economic plants. These oils are useful in controlling the aphid vectors of potato virus, but it is first necessary to learn which oils are tolerated by potato leaves. Hence, undiluted oils and cresoap emulsions of petroleum oils were tested on potato leaves to determine: (1) The rates of oil penetration into leaves; ...

Three hundred and ninety-four sweet potato accessions from Latin America and East Africa were screened by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for the presence of begomoviruses, and 46 were found to be positive. All were symptomless in sweet potato and generated leaf curling and/or chlorosis in Ipomoea setosa. The five most divergent isolates, based on complete genome sequences, were used to study i...

Effects of four host plants, tobacco, Chinese cabbage, cowpea and sweet potato, on larval and pupal development and survival, and longevity and fecundity of adults of Spodoptera litura (F) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), were studied under laboratory conditions (26 degrees C, 60-80% RH), as was the utilization of the four host plants and adaptation on tobacco. All of the biological parameters include...

Potato virus Y (PVY) coat protein gene has been cloned from an Indian isolate of PVY. The coat protein gene from this isolate showed 93.2% nucleic acid sequence homology and more than 94% amino acid sequence homology compared to an American isolate. The coat protein gene has been sub-cloned into plant expression vector pBINPLUS and tobacco leaf discs were transformed using Agrobacterium tumefac...