1Department of Virology, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati-517502, Andhra Pradesh.
2International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru-502324, Andhra Pradesh.
Sugarcane mosaic disease is wide spread in all sugarcane growing countries. Almost all sugarance grown in India was belived to be affected by mosaic disease. Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV), an unassigned distinct member of the family Potyviridae, has been shown to be involved in the etiology of sugarcane mosaic in India. This study was undertaken to identify most suitable tiusse for the generation of SCSMV-free plants by tissue culture. Virus-affecte sugarcane was collected from farmers’ fields grown around Tirupati and propagated in the laboratory garden through setts. The plant explants, apical meristems, axillary buds and young leaf rolls, were repeatedly checked for the presence of SCSMV by bioassay on Sorghum bicolor cv Rio, by direct antigen coating (DAC)-ELISA and immunocapture-RT-PCR using primers designed to coat protein region. The bioassay proved the presence of SCSMV in 16.6% of apical meristems, 10.5% of axillary buds and 100% of young leaf rolls. In DAC-ELISA the virus was detected in 18.1% of the apical meristems, 14.2% of axillary buds and 100% of young leaf rolls. However, SCSMV was detected in all the tissue explants tested by immunocapture-RT-PCR, suggesting that the explants contain viral RNA. Apical meristems and axillary buds that tested negative to virus by ELISA are being used to generate sugarcane by tissue culture methods.
