Characterization of Caper Latent Virus

AbstractA virus with filamentous particles c. 662 nm in length, distantly serologically related to HelVS was isolated from caper (Capparis spinosa) in Southern Italy and characterized as a member of the carlavirus group. Virus particles have asedimentation coefficient of 168 S and a buoyant density in CsCl of 1.31 g × cm−3. They are constituted by a single protein species with a molecular weight of 35.700 which encapsidates a single species of single stranded RNA with the apparent size of 9100 nucleotides. This RNA was infectious constituting the whole viral genome. Virus particles either scattered or in aggregates but no specific cytopathological alterations were seen in infected cells. This carlavirus proved to infect caper symptomlessly and was often isolated in nature from plants without apparent signs of infection. For this reason, the name of caper latent virus (CapLV) is suggested for it. It is also suggested that CapLV be identical with caper vein banding virus, a tentative, member of the carlavirus group superficially described in 1970 from Southern Italy.