Antiserum Preparation of Recombinant Sweet Potato Latent Virus-Lotus (SPLV-Lotus) Coat Protein and Application for Virus-Infected Lotus Plant Detection

Lotus is one of the most important aquatic vegetables in China. Previously, we detected sweet potato latent virus from lotus (SPLV-lotus) and found that it has highly significant sequence diversity with SPLV-sweet potato isolates (SPLV-sp). Here, we developed serological methods for the detection of SPLV-lotus in Chinese lotus cultivation areas. Based on the high sensitivity of SPLV-lotus coat protein antiserum, rapid, sensitive and large-scale diagnosis methods of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and dot blot in lotus planting area were developed. The established ELISA and dot blot diagnostic methods can be used to detect SPLV-lotus from samples successfully. And our results also showed that the SPLV-lotus and sweet potato isolates appeared clearly distinction in serology. Our study provides a high-throughput, sensitive, and rapid diagnostic method based on serology that can detect SPLV on lotus, which is suggested to be included in viral disease management approach due to its good detection level.