Diagnosis of strawberry vein banding virus by a non-radioactive probe.

A non-radioactive digoxigenin-labelled cDNA probe was prepared from genomic DNA of American isolate No. 45058 of strawberry vein banding virus (SVBV). Five different air-dried SVBV-containing strawberry leaf samples originating from National Clonal Germplasm Repository, Corvallis, USA, reacted positively in dot blot hybridization with this probe. Six of twelve strawberry samples from the Czech Republic exhibiting symptoms of SVBV-like infection gave positive reaction with this probe. Our results confirm the spread of SVBV in Central Europe and introduce the first reliable screening method for this virus.