Mechanical transmission of poleroviruses

Previously, transmission of poleroviruses has relied solely on the use of their aphid vectors. Biolistic inoculation allowed for the first time the mechanical transmission of Beet western yellows virus (BWYV) and Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) to several host plants. Inoculation with purified preparations and viral RNA extracts of PLRV resulted in 30–50% systemically infected Nicotiana occidentalis P1 plants and 15–30% infected Nicotiana clevelandii plants. Particle bombardment was also used successfully to infect N. clevelandii plants with in vitro RNA transcripts of full-length cDNA of BWYV.