Biological and Serological Properties of Strains of Barley Mild Mosaic Virus

Abstract

Abstract The biological and serological properties of two Japanese barley mild mosaic virus (BaMMV) strains (BaMMV‐Kal and BaMMV‐Nal) and a German BaMMV strain (BaMMV‐M) were compared. Mechanical inoculation experiments showed that these three strains differed from one another in their ability to infect specific barley cultivars. BaMMV‐Kal and BaMMV‐M caused similar symptoms, but BaMMV‐Nal clearly differed from them in its symptoms on some barley cultivars. The three BaMMV strains efficiently infected barley plants at 15°C, whereas at 20°C BaMMV‐Kal and BaMMV‐M also infected many plants but BaMMV‐Nal infected only a few. BaMMV‐Kal and BaMMV‐M were indistinguishable by ELISA, while BaMMV‐Nal was distinguished from both. The biological and serological variability reported shows that BaMMV occurs as two distinct strains in Japan.