First record of Tomato apical stunt viroid in Senegal
Tomato apical stunt viroid (Pospiviroid, TASVd – EPPO Alert List) was initially discovered in Côte d’Ivoire. It was then reported in Indonesia, and more recently in Israel and Tunisia* causing severe outbreaks on protected tomatoes. In 2005, severe symptoms (suppression of apical growth and leaf chlorosis) were observed in tomato samples from northern Senegal. Molecular tests revealed the presence of TASVd in tested samples. The complete genome sequence was obtained and it showed 96% homology with the original isolate from Côte d’Ivoire. This is the first report of TASVd in Senegal.
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*The EPPO Secretariat had previously no data on the occurrence of TASVd in Tunisia.
Sources
Candresse T, Marais A, Ollivier F, Verdin E, Blancard D (2007) First report of the presence of Tomato apical stunt viroid on tomato in Senegal. Plant Disease 91(3), p 330.