Purification and Properties of Citrus Tatter Leaf Virus

Abstract

Citrus tatter leaf virus (CTLV) was purified by molecular permeation chromatography on controlled pore glass beads after preliminary partial purification from infected leaves of Chenopodium quinoa. CTLV had very flexuous filamentous particles 600 to 650nm long and 13nm wide. In uranyl acetate, the particles were constructed with a pitch of 3.4nm and showed two types of fine structure, cross-banding and criss-cross pattern. The virus had a single RNA species with a mol. wt. of 2.83×10⁶ and produced a single protein band (mol. wt. 27, 000) in SDS-PAGE. CTLV showed a serological relationship to apple stem grooving virus which is a member of the capillovirus group. These findings suggest that CTLV is a capillovirus.