Investigation of grapevine viroids in the East Mediterranean region

ABSTRACT PhD THESIS INVESTIGATION OF GRAPEVINE VIROIDS IN THE EAST MEDITERRANEAN REGION Mona GAZEL DEPARTMENT OF PLANT PROTECTION INSTITUTE OF NATURAL AND APPLIED SCIENCE UNIVERSITY OF ÇUKUROVA Supervisor : Prof. Dr. Nüket ÖNELGE Year : 2002, Pages:90 Jury : Prof.Dr. Nüket ÖNELGE Prof. Dr. Ahmet ÇINAR Prof. Dr. Kadriye ÇA?LAYAN Prof. Dr. M. Asil YILMAZ Asst. Prof. Dr. Gülsen SERTKAYA This study was conducted to determine the incidence of grapevine viroids in grapevine which were grown in the East Mediterranean Region by biological indexing, sPAGE and RT-PCR analyses. Samples collected from 22 different grapevine varieties and 8 additional varieties of which name were not determined by winegrowers were tested by sPAGE. According to sPAGE analyses, 62 of the 1 84 grapevine samples were found to be infected with one or more viroids, 122 samples were found to be viroid-free. CEVd-g, HSVd-g, GYSVd-1, GYSVd-2 and one additional viroid which has not been identified yet were determined by sPAGE analyses. Results of sPAGE analyses were confirmed by RT-PCR. Viroids multiplied by RT-PCR were purificated by PCR purification kit. Prevalently used grapevine rootstocks in the region were also tested by sPAGE; GYSVd-1, GYSVd-2 and HSVd-g of grapevine viroids were detected in the tested rootstocks. Key Words: Grapevine viroids, purification, CEVd-g, GYSVd-1, GYSVd-2, HSVd-g