DIFFERENT TOMATO BUSHY STUNT VIRUS-STRAINS THAT CAUSE DISEASE OUTBREAKS IN SOLANACEOUS CROPS IN SPAIN

Tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV) was detected for the first time in Spa in in 1994 in two main horticultural areas of the southeast. TBSV was the cause of economically important diseases in greenhouse-grown tomat o and eggplant in the El Ejido area and in greenhouse- and open field- grown tomato in the Mazarron area. Field isolates from both regions an d several reference strains of TBSV were characterized by serology and by determining the nucleotide sequence of a 0.9-kb segment at the 3' end of the viral genomic RNA. Isolates from El Ejido were closely rela ted to the BS3 strain of TBSV, a strain that is responsible for diseas e outbreaks in solanaceous plants in neighboring countries. In contras t, isolates from Mazanon were very closely related to the cherry strai n of TBSV, a strain that typically infects rosaceous trees worldwide a nd that has never been reported to infect tomato naturally. The result s reported here contribute to a better understanding of the taxonomy o f tombusviruses.