Molecular Diagnosis of Rice Black-Streaked Dwarf Virus in Japan and Korea

Rice black-streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) and Maize rough dwarf virus (MRDV) are closely related viruses. Since the two viruses produce identical symptoms on maize, barley, and wheat, diagnosis of infected plants is difficult. Previously, we reported that partial cDNA clones of RBSDV S5 and S6 from the Japanese isolate (RBSDV-H) have lower sequence homology to MRDV than do cDNA clones from other genomic segments. In order to test whether cDNA clones of RBSDV-H S5 and S6 can be used for molecular diagnosis, RBSDV field isolates from Korea and from Hokkaido, Japan were tested in dot blot hybridizations probed with RBSDV-H S5 and S6 cDNA colnes. Hybridization with these probes was more intense against the RBSDV genome than against the MRDV genome. Therefore, RBSDV-H S5 and S6 cDNA clones can be used to differentiate between the two viruses. Furthermore, RBSDV-H S5 and S6 clones reacted more strongly against the viruses from stunted maize plants from Korean fields than to MRDV, indicating that RBSDV may be the causal disease agent in maize plants in Korea.