Tomato mosaic virus
Encyclopedia
Tomato mosaic virus is a plant pathogenic virus. It is found worldwide and affects tomatoes and many other plants.
plants shows mottling, with alternating yellowish and darker green areas, the latter often appearing thicker and raised giving a blister-like appearance. The leaves tend to be fern-like in appearance with pointed tips and younger leaves may be twisted. The fruit may be distorted, yellow blotches and necrotic spots may occur on both ripe and green fruit and there may be internal browning of the fruit wall. In young plants, the infection reduces the set of fruit and may cause distortions and blemishes. The entire plant may be dwarfed and the flowers discoloured. Environmental conditions influence the symptoms. These include temperature, day length and light intensity as well as the variety, the age of the plant at infection and the virulence of the strain of ToMV.
plants, ToMV affects a wide range of other crop and ornamental plants. These include pepper
, petunia
, snapdragon
, delphinium
and marigold
and a great many other plants to a lesser extent. The infection is generally restricted to plants that are grown in seedbeds and transplanted as it is in the handling processes that the virus is likely to gain entry. Symptoms on other plant hosts include blistering, chlorosis, curling, distortion, dwarfing and mottling of the leaves.
rapidly. It can also be spread on contaminated tools and the clothing and hands of workers during routine activities.
Symptoms
The foliage of affected tomatoTomato
The word "tomato" may refer to the plant or the edible, typically red, fruit which it bears. Originating in South America, the tomato was spread around the world following the Spanish colonization of the Americas, and its many varieties are now widely grown, often in greenhouses in cooler...
plants shows mottling, with alternating yellowish and darker green areas, the latter often appearing thicker and raised giving a blister-like appearance. The leaves tend to be fern-like in appearance with pointed tips and younger leaves may be twisted. The fruit may be distorted, yellow blotches and necrotic spots may occur on both ripe and green fruit and there may be internal browning of the fruit wall. In young plants, the infection reduces the set of fruit and may cause distortions and blemishes. The entire plant may be dwarfed and the flowers discoloured. Environmental conditions influence the symptoms. These include temperature, day length and light intensity as well as the variety, the age of the plant at infection and the virulence of the strain of ToMV.
Host plants
Besides SolanaceousSolanaceae
Solanaceae are a family of flowering plants that include a number of important agricultural crops as well as many toxic plants. The name of the family comes from the Latin Solanum "the nightshade plant", but the further etymology of that word is unclear...
plants, ToMV affects a wide range of other crop and ornamental plants. These include pepper
Capsicum
Capsicum is a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. Its species are native to the Americas where they have been cultivated for thousands of years, but they are now also cultivated worldwide, used as spices, vegetables, and medicines - and have become are a key element in...
, petunia
Petunia
Petunia is a widely cultivated genus of flowering plants of South American origin, closely related with tobacco, cape gooseberries, tomatoes, deadly nightshades, potatoes and chili peppers; in the family Solanaceae. The popular flower derived its name from French, which took the word petun, meaning...
, snapdragon
Antirrhinum
Antirrhinum is a genus of plants commonly known as snapdragons from the flowers' fancied resemblance to the face of a dragon that opens and closes its mouth when laterally squeezed...
, delphinium
Delphinium
Delphinium is a genus of about 300 species of perennial flowering plants in the buttercup family Ranunculaceae, native throughout the Northern Hemisphere and also on the high mountains of tropical Africa. The common name, larkspur, is shared with the closely related genus Consolida...
and marigold
Tagetes
Tagetes is a genus of 56 species of annual and perennial mostly herbaceous plants in the sunflower family . The genus is native to North and South America, but some species have become naturalized around the world. One species, T...
and a great many other plants to a lesser extent. The infection is generally restricted to plants that are grown in seedbeds and transplanted as it is in the handling processes that the virus is likely to gain entry. Symptoms on other plant hosts include blistering, chlorosis, curling, distortion, dwarfing and mottling of the leaves.
Means of infection
The virus may be introduced on infected seed. Only a small number of seedlings need to be infected for the virus to spreadrapidly. It can also be spread on contaminated tools and the clothing and hands of workers during routine activities.