Transmission, Host Range, and Virus-Vector Relationships of Chino del Tomate Virus, a Whitefly-Transmitted Geminivirus from Sinaloa, Mexico. J. K. Brown, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721. M. R. Nelson, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721. Plant Dis. 72:866-869. Accepted for publication 21 May 1988. Copyright 1988 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-72-0866.

The transmission properties, host range, and virus-vector relationships of chino del tomate virus (CdTV), a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus from Sinaloa, Mexico, are described for the first time. CdTV is transmitted by Bemisia tabaci, but not by seed or mechanical means. The virus, which has an apparently narrow host range within the Asclepiadaceae, Leguminosae, Malvaceae, and Solanaceae, has several characteristics in common with tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) described in the Middle East and Africa. Tomato breeding lines Lycopersicon pimpinellifolium LA121 and LA1478, which showed tolerance to TYLCV, were tolerant to infection by CdTV. In virus-vector studies, the minimum acquisition-access period (AAP) and inoculation-access period were 1 hr (22% transmission) and 2 hr (8.3% transmission), respectively. A latent period of 17–22 hr was demonstrated. The virus was retained by its whitefly vector for 4.5 and 7.3 days after 24- and 72-hr AAP, respectively, which suggested a dose effect. Relative efficiencies of transmission for 1, 5, 10, and 20 B. tabaci were 15, 49, 84, and 100%, respectively.