In 2005, serological screening by ELISA of 24 tomato (Solanum lycopersicon Mill.) plants with virus-like foliar symptoms (locally known as “marchitez manchada” [spotted wilt] disease) was done for a variety of RNA viruses: Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV; family Bunyaviridae, genus Tospovirus) was specifically detected. The symptomatic plants testing positive were from the most important tomato areas in San Quintin, in the north of Baja California. Symptoms characteristic of TSWV (4), including chlorosis, malformation of apical leaves, stunting, and ringspot lesions, were observed in this region and throughout the peninsula. In 2006, 42 symptomatic tomato plants from La Paz, in the south of Baja California, were analyzed for TSWV by double-antibody sandwich (DAS)-ELISA with a commercially available kit (TSWV ImmunoStrip Kit; Agdia Inc., Elkhart, IN). Total nucleic acids of the TSWV ELISA-positive samples (16 of 42 = 38%) were extracted and preserved on FTA cards (Whatman, Brentford, U.K.) and processed according to the manufacturer's protocol. The positive TSWV samples were verified by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR with primers specific to the TSWV nucleocapsid protein gene, 5′-ATGTCTAAGGTTAAGCTC-3′ and 5′-TTAAGCAAGTTCTGTGAG-3′ (2). Amplicons of the expected size (approximately 800 bp) were obtained from all 16 positive samples but not in the ELISA-negative samples. The spotted wilt disease was mechanically transmitted to tomato (cv. Rutgers) and Nicotiana glauca seedlings. Symptoms on leaves consisting of chlorotic ring patterns and necrotic lesions were observed in tomato, and slightly concentric chlorotic lesions were observed in N. glauca. All symptomatic plants from San Quintin and La Paz were positive for TSWV in the DAS-ELISA and RT-PCR tests and none were positive for the tobamoviruses, Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) and Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). TSWV was not detected in symptomless tomato plants used as negative controls. TSWV was detected in Mexico in tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa), tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum), jimsonweed (Datura stramonium) (3), and recently, in tomato and pepper in the Central Plateau of Mexico (1). Although spotted wilt disease has been previously observed in San Quintin tomato-producing areas, to our knowledge, this is the first confirmation of TSWV in the Baja Peninsula. The role of weed hosts as a natural reservoir and the role of species of thrips in the epidemiology of the disease are currently unknown, although the incidence of the virus in these regions has risen to destructive levels in tomato.
References: (1) R. De La Torre-Almaráz et al. Agrociencia 36:211, 2002. (2). R. K. Jain et al. Plant Dis. 82:900, 1998. (3) M. E. Llamas-Llamas et al. Plant Pathol. 47:341, 1998. (4) G. Marchoux et al. Plant Pathol. 40:347, 1991.
