Disease Note.

Serrano Golden Mosaic Virus: A Newly Identified Whitefly-Transmitted Geminivirus of Pepper and Tomato in the United States and Mexico. J. K. Brown, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721. B. T. Poulos, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arizona, Tucson 85721. Plant Dis. 74:720. Accepted for publication 18 May 1990. Copyright 1990 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/PD-74-0720C.

A golden mosaic disease of pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) was widespread in northwestern (Sinaloa) Mexico in the fall of 1989. The disease, which affected 80- 100% of the plants in symptomatic fields, is caused by a previously uncharacterized geminivirus, tentatively designated herein as serrano golden mosaic virus (SGMV). SGMV is transmissible from pepper or tomato to pepper and tomato by the sweet potato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci Genn.) and from pepper to pepper by mechanical means. In transmission experiments with B. tabaci, SGMV caused symptoms in bell, chili, jalapeno, and tabasco (C. frutescens L.) peppers, tomato, and Datura stramonium L. Typical geminivirus particles (20 X 30 mm) were observed in partially purified virion preparations by transmission electron microscopy. Single-stranded DNA (approximately 2.6- 2.7 kb), characteristic in size for whitefly-transmitted geminiviruses, was isolated from greenhouse-inoculated, symptomatic pepper and tomato plants and visualized by agarose gel (1%) electrophoresis. The DNA cross-hybridized (O.l X SSC, 56 C) to DNA A component probes for tomato golden mosaic virus (TGMV) and bean golden mosaic virus (BGMV) but not to probes for chino del tomate virus A component, tomato yellow leaf curl virus A and B components, or TGMV and BGMV B components. The virus was also detected by DNA hybridization in numerous pepper and tomato samples collected in Mexico and from tomato field plots in central Arizona. This is the first report of SGMV in tomato and/or pepper in the United States and Mexico.