First Report of Crinivirus Tomatichlorosis Infecting Tomato Plants in Argentina

ABSTRACT Tomato is mainly produced in five main areas distributed in western, northern, eastern and south Argentina. In Jujuy, Argentina, tomato plants with yellowing, rolling, brittleness leaves symptoms were observed and samples were taken to the lab. Total RNA was extracted from symptomatic plants, and reverse transcription–PCR was done in order to detect simultaneously Crinivirus tomatichlorosis , Crinivirus contagichlorosis. Degenerate primers (HS‐11/HS‐12) and specific primers (TIC‐3/TIC‐4 and ToC‐5/ToC‐6) were used together to detect these two viruses in a nested‐PCR. Only a PCR fragment of the expected size for Crinivirus tomatichlorosis (463 bp) was amplified from symptomatic diseased plants. The sequence of the amplicon blasted with Crinivirus tomatichlorosis virus protein (97.6%). Phylogenetic analysis supported this finding. So, here we report for the first time the Crinivirus tomatichlorosis infecting tomato cultivars in our country.