A two-dimensional electrophoretic technique for the detection of circular viroids and virusoids.

A new gel electrophoretic technique for the rapid and sensitive detection of circular viroids and virusoids is described. Starting from plant material, a typical multisample analysis requires less than 8 h. Viroid concentrations as low as 60 ng/g tissue can be detected unambiguously without the use of radioactivity or highly specialized laboratory equipment. The technique presented here is compared to earlier methods of gel electrophoresis, nucleic acid fingerprinting, and currently employed hybridization techniques. A number of important technical advantages, including speed, simplicity, and sensitivity, suggest that the methods described here may have wide utility in checking the spread of viroid infections.