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First Report of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus in Tomato in South Georgia

In October 1998, symptoms characteristic of tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) were observed on fresh market tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) in four production fields, two in Decatur County, Georgia, and two in Gadsden County, Florida. Symptoms observed were plant stunting, reduced leaf size, yellow leaf margins, and mottling. The incidence of symptomatic plants was less than 1% in all fields examined. In most cases, symptoms were observed only on the upper portion of plants, suggesting these plants had been infected by secondary spread from an unknown source. Nuclear inclusions characteristic of geminiviruses were observed by light microscopy in leaf tissue from symptomatic plants (1). To identify the geminivirus, total DNA from infected plants was extracted from six symptomatic tomato plants (two from Georgia and four from Florida) for polymerase chain reaction (PCR; J. E. Polston, personal communication). DNA was amplified with geminivirus DNA A degenerate primer set PAL1v1978 and PAR1c496 (2) from these extracts in addition to extracts from a known TYLCV-infected, a tomato mottle virus (ToMoV)-infected, and a healthy tomato plant. A PCR product of 1.4 kb was obtained from plants with TYLCV-like symptoms, while a 1.4-kb product and a 1.1-kb product were obtained from extracts of the known TYLCV-infected and ToMoV-infected tomato plants, respectively. No PCR product was obtained from extracts of healthy tomato plants. The 1.4-kb PCR products from one Georgia sample and one Florida sample were compared with those of TYLCV and ToMoV by restriction enzyme (RE) digestion with EcoRI and ClaI. The RE pattern of the 1.4-kb fragment from both samples was identical to the RE pattern of TYLCV and different from that of ToMoV. Adult and immature whiteflies collected from the fields where TYLCV was found were identified as Bemisia tabaci, the vector of TYLCV, but the biotype was not established. This report of TYLCV in south Georgia and north Florida extends the geographic range of TYLCV in the U.S. northward approximately 100 km. Georgia is the second state in which TYLCV was found since its initial detection in south Florida in July 1997 (J. E. Polston, personal communication). Monitoring of silverleaf whitefly populations and detection of TYLCV on alternate hosts will continue in order to estimate the potential impact of this virus on south Georgia and north Florida agriculture.

References: (1) R. G. Christie and J. R. Edwardson. Plant Dis. 70:273, 1986, (2) M. R. Rojas et al. Plant Dis. 77:340, 1993.