Evidence for two small viruses persistently infecting established cell lines of Phthorimaea operculella, deriving from embryos of the potato tuber moth.

Two small viruses were isolated from established cell lines of P. operculella deriving from embryos. The first one probably related to the Nodaviridae family, is a 30 nm in diameter icosahedral virus, with a bisegmented RNA genome and a single polypeptide of 39 kilodaltons. The second one related to the Parvoviridae family, is a 25 nm in diameter icosahedral virus with a DNA genome and a capsid constituted of 4 polypeptides of respectively, 90,000; 64,000; 56,000 and 43,500 daltons. The two viruses probably chronically infect the cell lines and may be consider latent viruses.