VIEW ARTICLE

Etiology

Biological, Serological, and Cytopathological Properties of Tomato Vein-Yellowing Virus, a Rhabdovirus Occurring in Tomato in Morocco. M. El Maataoui, Laboratoire de Virologie, Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique, Rabat, Morocco; B. E. L. Lockhart(2), and D.-E. Lesemann(3). (2)Department of Plant Pathology, University of Minnesota/Institut Agronomique et Veterinaire Hassan II, B.P. 438, Agadir, Morocco; (3)Institut für Viruskrankheiten derPflanzen, Biologische Bundesanstalt für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, D 3300 Braunschweig, West Germany. Phytopathology 75:109-115. Accepted for publication 12 July 1984. Copyright 1985 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-75-109.

A previously undescribed disease of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) characterized by vein-yellowing, stunting, and plant deformation and occurring in the main tomato-growing areas of Morocco, is caused by a virus with bullet-shaped particles measuring 265 x 86 nm. Negatively stained particles showed variable dimensions depending on preparation methods. The virus also was found in the perennial weed Solanum sodomaeum. Its narrow host range consisted essentially of several solanaceous species. Symptoms produced were similar to those produced by potato yellow dwarf virus, but serological tests showed the two viruses to be unrelated. Virus particles were formed mainly by budding at the nuclear periphery and accumulated in the perinuclear space and adjacent endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Conspicuous aggregates of tubular material accumulated in cisternae of the ER. The name proposed for this apparently undescribed member of the plant rhabdovirus group is tomato vein-yellowing virus (TVYV).