Characteristics of the Microplate Method of Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay for the Detection of Plant Viruses

Some characteristics of a microplate method for the detection and assay of plant viruses using enzyme-labelled antibodies are described. The method enabled the highly sensitive detection of a number of morphologically different viruses in purified preparations and in unclarified extracts of herbaceous hosts and of infected crop plants. Virus concentrations were estimated by photometric measurement of the colour intensity of the hydrolysed substrate. The suitability of the tehcnique for various field and research applications is considered.