Characterization of a Korean Isolate of Dasheen mosaic virus Isolated from Taro(Colocasia esculenta Schott) in Korea

A filamentous virus was isolated from taro (Colocasia esculenta Schott) showing mosaic and chlorotic feather-ing symptoms in Chuncheon, Gangwon province in 2002. Based on ELISA, its appearance in electron microscope, serological relationships, and RT-PCR using specific primer and nucleotide sequence analysis of the CP gene, the isolated virus was identified as Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV) and designated as Korean isolated (DsMV-Kr). DsMV was not serologically related to Zantedeschia mosaic virus (ZaMV), which has been reported to infect an Araceae plants. Since the coat protein revealed electrophoretic heterogeneity, about 42 kDa, 39 kDa and 31 kDa by SDS-PAGE, an improved purification method was established for the production of antisera against DsMV-Kr. The purification method used in this study may be effectively applied to the purification of other filamentous viruses.