First report of Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) in Michoacan, Mexico

Abstract

The production of tomato and pepper is of great importance worldwide. Recently, in Israel and Jordan, the presence of a new member of the Tobamovirus genus was reported in tomato crops, which was called Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV). The fruits of infected plants can develop yellow areas, roughness, as well as necrotic or brown areas. In Yurecuaro and Tanhuato municipalities of Michoacan, crops of tomato and pepper have shown symptoms similar to those described, thus the objective was to determine if the ToBRFV is present in those places. Leaf tissue of tomato with symptoms was included and RTPCR was performed with primers that amplify a segment of the ORF2 of the genome of this virus; further, grids were prepared for observation under the transmission electron microscope (TEM). The expected amplicon was obtained and the sequences had a similarity of 99 to 100 % with ToBRFV. At the TEM, rigid rod-shaped viral particles typical of tobamoviruses were observed. To our knowledge, it is the first report of the presence of ToBRFV associated to tomato and pepper plants grown in Mexico.