ABSTRACT
Two isolates of Citrus tristeza virus recently discovered in Calabria (CTV-GB and CTV-SW) and one from Japan (CTV-J) were inoculated under safe conditions into indicator plants.
CTV-J induced a remarkable reduction in growth on grapefruit and inclusion bodies in all the inoculated species. CTV-GB and CTV-SW gave a moderate stunting and a mild pitting on the inner face of bark of sour orange rootstock as showed by the donor infected trees in the field.
Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of dsRNA extracted from CTV-infected tissues revealed a similar pattern for the three isolates and one from Florida (CTV-T4). None of them showed the specific band associated to seedling yellow component.
