Detection of Seed‐Transmitted Brome Mosaic Virus by ELISA, Radial Immunodiffusion and Immunoelectroblotting Tests

Abstract

Abstract The extent of contamination of wheat seedlots by brome mosaic virus (BMV), and the possible transmission of the virus through seed, were investigated by radial immunodiffusion (RID), enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and enzyme‐assisted immunoelectroblotting (IEB) tests. BMV was purified from seed washings, and from plants grown from contaminated seed. All three serological tests proved of value in detecting contaminated seeds, while ELISA and IEB were especially useful in detecting virus in infected plants grown from such seed. Rhopalosiphum padi aphids were shown to increase the incidence of BMV infectLon in seedling batches containing a few seed‐infected plants. The implications of these findings for wheat breeding schemes are discussed.