Geminiviruses infecting tomato crops in Nicaragua

Geminiviruses transmitted by whiteflies are believed to be responsible for the devastating epidemic in tomato crops in Nicaragua, as well as in other Central American countries. Polymerase chain reaction with degenerate prime rs was used to amplify partial sequences of the geminivirus coat protein ge ne from samples of diseased tomato plants collected from the major tomato-g rowing areas of Nicaragua. The data indicated the presence of geminiviruses in all tested regions of the country. DNA sequence analysis and phylogenet ic analysis of the amplified sequences showed that they corresponded to fou r different geminiviruses related to the other begomoviruses native to the Americas. One of the viruses, which was detected in three regions of Nicara gua, is probably Sinaloa tomato leaf curl virus. The sequences of two of th e other detected viruses showed close relationships with several geminiviru ses, including Tomato mottle virus, Tomato leaf crumple virus, and Sida gol den mosaic virus, all of which previously have been reported from Central A merica. The fourth virus is closely related at sequence level to a tomato-i nfecting geminivirus from Honduras, putatively designated Tomato mild mottl e virus. This virus seems to be different from the other known American beg omoviruses because it groups separately in the phylogenetic analysis.