Establishment of a relationship between grapevine leafroll closteroviruses 1 and 3 by use of monoclonal antibodies

Five stable hybridoma cell lines secreting monoclonal antibodies (Mabs) specific for GLRaV-1, one of the agents involved in the aetiology of grapevine leafroll disease, were produced by fusing a nonsecreting myeloma cell line with spleen cells from BALB/c mice immunized with purified GLRaV-1. The Mabs were characterized for their recognition of virus coat protein by DAS-ELISA and Western blotting. Mab (1G10) reacted specifically in ELISA, immuno-electron microscopy and immunoblotting with both GLRaV-1 and GLRaV-3 coat proteins. Mab 1C4 detected 25 of the 33 GLRaV-1 isolates, while Mab 1B7 reacted with 32 isolates including the eight isolates not recognized by Mab 1C4. Two of these hybridoma lines (2F11 and 2F3) are now used routinely for the immunodiagnosis of GLRaV-1.