Comparison of biological and molecular characterization of Iranian lettuce mosaic virus isolates.

Lettuce mosaic virus (LMV) is one of the most damaging viruses in lettuce and endive cultivating regions. In order to review the characteristics of different LMV isolates of Iran during 2004-2005 samples were collected from lettuce fields in Esfahan, Ghom, Khorasan, Khuzestan and Tehran provinces. All of the isolates were detected by LMV polyclonal antiserum (AS-0155, DSMZ Germany) in ELISA and TIPA tests.