Differentiation of Australian cucumber mosaic cucumovirus isolates: comparison of dsRNA type, polymerase chain reaction-restriction enzyme analysis, DNA hybridisation and serogrouping

We examined the differentiation of 22 Australian isolates of cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV) by comparing PAGE mobilities of the three RNAs (dsRNA mobilities), serogroups using monoclonal antibodies, dot blot hybridisation (DBH) with subgroup-specific RNA 3 probes and PCR-restriction enzyme analysis (Msp I) of the coat protein gene. While there was a high degree of correlation between the results obtained with all four methods, we found exceptions with 2 of the 22 isolates analysed. This indicates that more than one test is necessary to obtain reliable information about the identity of a CMV isolate.