Abstract
Cowpea mild mottle virus (CMMV), a carlavirus previously found infecting only leguminous species in West Africa, East Africa and Thailand, was identified as the cause of the 'fuzzy vein' disease of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum) in Western Nigeria. A typical isolate from tomato and the type strain from cowpea (Vigna unguiculata) each induced inconspicuous and transient narrow chlorotic banding of secondary and other minor leaf vein (so-called 'fuzzy veins') of two Nigerian cultivars (cv. Ife No. l and another unnamed), and symptomless systemic infection in three European tomato cultivars (cvs 'Kondine Red', 'Minibelle' and 'Moneymaker'). Neither isolate infected potato (Solanum tuberosum) or four tropical solanaceous crop species (Capsicum annuum, Nicotiana tabacum, Solanum melongena or S. integrifolium). The two isolates were serologically indistinguishable and both infected the same range of indicator species. Neither was seed-borne in tomato, or transmissible in the non-persistent manner by aphids (Myzus persicae and Aphis gossypii).
