Development of rapid, specific and sensitive detection of Cucumber mosaic virus

Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) causes major losses to thousand agricultural and horticultural crops around the world. Unlike other plant pathogens, there are no direct methods available yet to control viruses and, consequently, the current measures rely on indirect tactics to manage the viral diseases. Hence, methods for detection and identification of viruses, both in plants and vectors, play a critical role in virus disease management. A rapid assay for diagnosis of CMV, which can be employed in both laboratory and field, is essential. Therefore, this study was undertaken to develop a procedure for detection of the CMV in infected plants using a monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies. Dot-immunobinding assays (DIBA) are useful alternatives to microtitre plate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Nine monoclonal antibodies were readily used for detected CMV by TAS-ELISA and DIBA of infected plants. DIBA has about the same sensitivity as ELISA in microtiter plates, but it has the additional advantages of simplicity, quick completion in the field or office on large numbers of samples, economy, and can be quantified using densitometry.