VIEW ARTICLE

Ecology and Epidemiology

Field Testing of a Satellite-Containing Attenuated Strain of Cucumber Mosaic Virus for Tomato Protection in Japan. H. Sayama,Nippon Del Monte Corporation, R & D, Numata, Gumma 378, Japan; T. Sato(2), M. Kominato(3), T. Natsuaki(4), and J. M. Kaper(5). (2)(3)Nippon Del Monte Corporation, R & D, Numata, Gumma 378, Japan; (4)Faculty of Agriculture, Utsunomiya University, Utsunomiya 321, Japan; (5)Microbiology and Plant Pathology Laboratory, United States Department of Agriculture, Plant Science Institute, Beltsville, MD 20705. Phytopathology 83:405-410. Accepted for publication 6 November 1992. Copyright 1993 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-83-405.

A potentially useful, attenuated cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), CMV-KO2, was isolated from a tomato field in Japan. The virus had an associated nonnecrogenic satellite RNA (SatRNA) containing 368 nucleotides with microsequence heterogeneity and a unique sequence in positions 79–87 compared to previously reported SatRNAs. Experimental infections in tomato plants showed that the concentration of CMV-KO2 was maintained stably at low levels, and it was not transmitted from tomato to tomato by Myzus persicae. A host-range study of 32 cultivars of 20 species from eight families showed that CMV-KO2, in general, caused either no symptoms or mild symptoms on those plants. No synergistic effect caused by mixed infections of CMV-KO2 and tobacco mosaic virus or potato virus Y was observed in tomato plants. Field tests during 1989 and 1990 revealed that tomato plants treated with CMV-KO2 had a 20–200% higher yield (20–40 t/ha) compared to nontreated plants in CMV-infested fields. Collectively, the results indicate that CMV-KO2 is useful and safe to use.