CMV (3) is transmitted by aphids in a non-persistent manner, and through the seed in some plant hosts. Experimentally, it is easily transmitted by mechanical inoculation of plant sap. It is distributed world-wide, causes economically important diseases in a large variety of crop plants. CMV causes mosaic in cucumber, melon and other cucurbits; blight in spinach; mosaic, fern leaf and systemic necrosis in tomato; mosaic and ringspot in pepper; mosaic and stunting in clover, lupins and lucerne; stunting in soybean; mosaic, infectious chlorosis and heart rot in banana; and mosaic and dwarfing in many other species of dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous plants. CMV has the widest host range for any plant virus, including more than 1200 species in over 100 families of dicotyledonous and monocotyledonous angiosperms.
The broad-spectrum reagents contain complementary polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies to different virus isolates. The polyclonal antibodies used for coating were made against isolates in the CMV II subgroup but also recognize CMV I subgroup isolates (1,4). The «conjugate» consists of poly- and monoclonal antibodies, reacting also to isolates of serogroups I and II. The reagents have been used to detect CMV of both subgroups from different plant species from different parts of the world; e.g., from North America, Asia and Europe (R. Martin, personal communication, M. Turina, personal communication and W. Bitterlin, unpublished). Samples are homogenised 1:20 (w/v) in extraction buffer «General» (Art. No. 110120). The product was developed in cooperation with the USDA-ARS Horticultural Crops Research Laboratory, Corvallis, OR, USA; and the Istituto di Virologia Vegetale, CNR, Torino, Italy
