Tomato mosaic virus

Family   : Virgaviridae
Genus    : Tobamovirus
Acronym  : ToMV

Introduction

Tomato mosaic virus infected plants are characterized by light or dark green mottling or mosaic with distortion of younger leaves, and stunting to varying degrees. Severely affected leaves may have a fernlike appearance and may show raised dark green areas. Fruit set may be severely reduced in affected plants. Symptoms are influenced by environmental conditions such as daylength, temperature, and light intensity as well as by variety, plant age at infection, and virulence of Tomato mosaic virus (ToMV) strain. The virus can be spread by horticultural workers on contaminated hands, clothing, and tools during routine horticultural operations such as transplanting, tying, pruning, grafting, pollinating, cultivating, spraying, watering, and picking.

Major Diseases

Mosaic disease

Geographical Distribution

Can occur wherever tomato is grown.

Particle Morphology

Rigid rods of about 300 nm in length.

Transmission Method

No vector involved. Can be transmitted mechnically and through seeds. The virus can be spread by horticultural workers on contaminated hands, clothing, and tools during routine horticultural operations such as transplanting, tying, pruning, grafting, pollinating, cultivating, spraying, watering, and picking.

Detection

ELISA and RT-PCR.

Host Range and Symptomatology

Host	Symptoms
Tomato and sweet pepper	Systemic mosaic-mottling and necrosis

References

1	Chitra, T. R. ; Prakash, H. S. ; Albrechtsen, S. E. ; Shetty, H. S. ; Mathur, S. B., Indexing of leaf and seed samples of tomato and bell pepper for tobamoviruses.. 2002, Indian Phytopathology, 55, 1, pp 84-86.
2	Gunasekaran, M., Serological studies on tomato mosaic virus.. 1972, Experientia, 28, 8, pp 980.
3	Kumar, N. R. ; Byadgi, A. S., Incidence of tomato mosaic disease in Northern Karnataka.. 2001, Plant Pathology Newsletter, 19, 8, pp 31-32.
4	Rajakumar, N. ; Byadgi, A. S., Management of tomato mosaic disease.. 2002, Karnataka Journal of Agricultural Sciences, 15, 4, pp 731-732.
5	Sharma, P. K. ; Thakur, P. D. ; Gupta, D., Virus diseases of tomato in Himachal Pradesh.. 2005, Environment and Ecology, 23S, Special 4, pp 679-682.