Occurrence and Symptom Expression of American Wheat Striate Mosaic Virus in Wheat in Kansas

Extracts of winter wheat with viruslike symptoms from Comanche County, Kans., did not react with antisera to viruses previously found infecting wheat in the state, nor was the virus mechanically transmissible to wheat, maize, or sorghum. Leaves of infected wheat developed thin, chlorotic striations that were more severe on the abaxial than adaxial surface. The virus reacted with American wheat striate mosaic virus (AWSMV) antiserum and was vectored by the painted leafhopper (Endria inimica), confirming the virus as AWSMV. A protein of 59 kDa, consistently detected in extracts of infected leaves, reacted with antiserum to AWSMV in Western blots. This is the first report of AWSMV in the Southern Great Plains region. Experiments showed that, on some cultivars, AWSMV caused brown necrotic streaking of culms and glumes, a symptom not described previously for wheat infected by this virus. Hard red winter wheat cultivars Ike, Karl, and TAM 107 had positive enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay values, but exhibited few or no symptoms.