© Benaki Phytopathological Institute
Hellenic Plant Protection Journal - Special Issue
48
of the viral coat protein (CP), which was ob-
tained from all of the symptomatic samples
but not from the healthy controls. Sequenc-
ing of the amplicon and comparison via the
BLASTn algorithm showed 98-99% similari-
ty of the common vetch (HE601635), bitter
vetch (HE601636) and alfalfa (HE601637) iso-
lates with BLRV. An attempt to verify the re-
sults with the use of a luteovirus generic de-
tection method did not yield the expected
amplicons. The inability to obtain the ampl-
icons from both ORF regions could possibly
indicate the existence of variability in the
new isolates. This is, to our knowledge, the
first report of a BLRV-like virus in these Fa-
baceae species.
Molecular detection of
Grapevine virus A
(GVA) and
Grapevine rupestris
stem pitting associated virus
(GRSPaV) in grapevine cultivars and
rootstocks
K. M
ORAKI
1
, C.G. O
RFANIDOU
1
, V.I. M
ALIOGKA
1
, G. G
RAMMATIKAKI
2
, A. A
VGELIS
3
and N.I. K
ATIS
1
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural
Environment, School of Agriculture, Laboratory of Plant Pathology, GR-541 24
Thessaloniki, Greece.
2
Σχολή Τεχνολογίας Γεωπονίας, Τεχνολογικό Εκπαιδευτικό
Ίδρυμα Κρήτης.
3
Laboratory of Plant Virology, Institute of Grapevine, Greek
Agricultural Organization “Demeter”, Heraklion, Crete
Grapevine virus A (
GVA) and
Grapevine rup-
estris stem pitting associated virus
, GRSPaV)
are members of the genera
Vitivirus
and
Fo-
veavirus
(family
Betaflexiviridae
)
,
respective-
ly. They are both widely distributed world-
wide and they are associated with different
diseases of the Rugose wood complex. The
purpose of this study was to evaluate the
presence of GVA and GRSPaV in self-rooted,
grafted grapevine cultivars as well as in root-
stocks which are cultivated in Greece. In to-
tal, we tested 26 samples originating from
20 different rootstocks, 60 samples from 17
self-rooted cultivars and 136 samples from
20 grafted cultivars. Detection of GVA and
GRSPaV was done by RT-PCR. In the case of
GVA an RT-PCR was developed and applied
which uses degenerate primers binding to
the capsid protein and shows wide detec-
tion range whereas detection of GRSPaV
was based on a published method. The re-
sults showed that only GRSPaV (7/26) was
detected in the rootstocks, whereas only
GVA (12/60) was detected in self-rooted cul-
tivars. In grafted cultivars, both viruses were
detected with GVA (44/136) being dominant
followed by GRSPaV (26/136).
Etiology of yellows disease in cucurbit crops in Greece
C.G. O
RFANIDOU
1
, L.C. P
APAYIANNIS
2
, L. L
OTOS
1
, C. D
IMITRIOU
1
, E. D
IOGENOUS
1
, V.I. M
ALIOGKA
1
and N.I. K
ATIS
1
1
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Faculty of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural
Environment, School of Agriculture, Laboratory of Plant Pathology, GR-541 24
Thessaloniki, Greece.
2
Agricultural Research Institute, P.O. Box 22016, Nicosia 1516,
Cyprus
Cucurbit yellows disease (CYD) is a wide-
spread disease in cucurbit crops in Greece.
However, its etiology has not been studied
sufficiently, despite the fact that it is well
known that
Beet pseudo-yellows virus
(BPYV),
Cucurbit yellow stunting disorder virus
(CYS-
DV) and
Cucurbit aphid-borne yellows virus
(CABYV) are usually implicated. BPYV, CYS-
DV and CABYV are endemic in Greece. BPYV
and CYSDV are transmitted with the whitefly
species
Trialeurodes vaporariorum,
and
Bemi-
sia tabaci,
respectively, while CABYV is trans-
