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Unlike most pathogenic organisms, viruses require a special approach to establish their presence in a diseased plant, since they are not visible, even with a light microscope. Due to the tremendous damage of crop plants caused by viruses various methods and techniques have been developed to enable the investigation of these pathogens. A variety of protocols for determining the properties and identity of a virus or its behaviour in an infected plant are described in this manual. For teaching purposes, a number of class exercises have been added. The protocols have been selected in such a way as to be useful for plant viruses in both tropical and non-tropical parts of the world.
List of contents
Summary:
Virus Inoculation; Symptomatology; Infectivity assays; Infectivity of virus in crude sap; Transmission of viruses; Maintenance of virus isolates; Production of virus-free material from infected plants; Virus isolation and purification; Physico-chemical properties of virus particles; Properties of viral components; Serological techniques for detection and identification of viruses and viral products; Electron microscope and light microscope serology; Detection of viral RNA; Diagnosis of a disease and identification of the causal virus(es).
