First report of tomato rugose yellow leaf curl virus infecting tomato in Argentina

Abstract

Tomato plants exhibiting typical symptoms of begomovirus infection, including leaf deformation, curling, and yellowing, were collected from cultivated fields in Lavalle Department, Corrientes, Argentina, in 2010. Although the number of affected plants was only 2% within a farm, the finding is of considerable importance since the white fly Bemisia tabaci is widely spread within the country, even in other southernmost areas such as the cinturón hortícola de Buenos Aires (horticultural belt around Buenos Aires). DNA isolated from infected tomato leaves collected from three symptomatic tomato plants was amplified by PCR with specific primers designed to amplify a region of component A and B of the Begomovirus genome.