1994年南投市田間種植之洋桔梗產生葉片黃化、嵌紋及植株矮化等徵狀。罹病葉粗汁液陰染後在電子顯微鏡下可檢視出直徑約28 nm之球形病毒顆粒。以其粗汁液機械接種15科53種植物結果12科22種受到感染,其中20種呈系統性感染,7種呈局部感染,26種為非寄主植物。新分離之病毒可感染多種瓜類作物,但不能感染菜豆及豇豆。病毒外鞘蛋白分子量與CMV之鞘蛋白同為29 kDa。血清學技術包括ELISA、雙向免疫擴散及西方漬染法等均顯示洋桔梗上之病毒與CMV-NT9有不可區分之血清類緣關係。罹病葉片組織中,病毒顆粒聚集於細胞質或液胞內,呈不規則或結晶狀積聚或者形成內含體。本病毒以蚜蟲進行傳播試驗結果,桃蚜(Myzus persicae)不具傳播力或傳播能力低,其原因未明。
A cucumovirus which caused a severe disease on Lisianthus rusellianus in Nan-Tou City during the 1994 growing season was purified and characterized in this study. The infected Lisianthus rusellianus plants showed yellowing, mosaic, and stunting symptoms. Negative stain electron microscopy examination of the crude extract from diseased leaves revealed icosahedral virus particles about 28 nm in diameter. Mechanical infectivity assay using crude saps on 53 plant species from 15 different families showed that the virus was able to infect 27 species of 9 families, with 20 species being systemic hosts and 7 local-lesion hosts. The virus was found to infect many species in the family Cucurbitaceae, but it did not infect beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) nor cowpeas (Vigna unguiculata). Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SPS-PAGE) analysis of the purified virus revealed a single coat protein with a relative molecular weight of 29 kDa, same as that found in other cucumoviruses. By ELISA, double-diffusion test, Western and tissue blot analysis, the virus is serologically indistinguishable from a well characterized cucumber mosaic virus strain, CMV-NT9. By histological studies, the virus particles were found to aggregate to form irregular or crystal accumulations or inclusion bodies in the cytoplasm or vacuoles of the infected tissues. This virus was not transmitted by Aphis persicae, or it was transmitted at a very low efficiency. Whether this inability of transmission was related to the composition of viral coat proteins remains to be elucidated.