Abstract
Dahlia latent viroid and Potato spindle tuber viroid in dahlia plants in the UK.
Abstract
In 2017, routine viroid testing on 4 dahlia lines from 3 cultivars was done at a tissue culture facility in the UK and found Dahlia latent viroid (DLVd) and Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) in different cultivars. The initial investigation for viroid was performed using a digoxigenin (DIG) labelled full-length PSTVd RNA probe that can detect all known pospiviroids. The infected dahlia cultivars showed no obvious symptoms with either viroid; although the growth rate in tissue culture was observed to be slower than other dahlia cultivars, particularly the PSTVd-infected lines. This is thought to be the first report of DLVd in the UK and PSTVd in dahlia in the UK.
