Situation of cowpea mild mottle 'carlavirus'
In their paper, Jeyanandarajah ; Brunt present a review on cowpea mild mottle virus (EU Annex I/A1). It was first described in 1973 on cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), in Ghana. At this time, it was thought to be only of local and minor importance. However, since then it has shown to have a wide host range and an extensive geographical distribution. Cowpea mild mottle virus has filamentous particles with properties resembling those of aphid-borne carlaviruses. But the virus also presents important differences, as it is transmitted by Bemisia tabaci and induces the formation of cytoplasmic brush-like inclusions within infected plants. Therefore, the taxonomy of this virus remains uncertain. The authors felt that it was best to leave it unclassified or tentatively placed in a subgroup of carlaviruses. Studies on seed transmissibility of the virus are still contradictory.
- Host range
It includes tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum), a range of leguminous crops such as: cowpeas, groundnuts (Arachis hypogea), soybean (Glycine max), kidney bean (Phaseolus vulgaris), lima bean (P. lunatus), faba bean (Vicia faba), mung bean (Vigna radiata) and many weed species.
- Geographical distribution
EPPO region: Israel.
Africa: Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania.
Asia: India, Indonesia, Israel, Thailand, Malaysia*, Yemen*.
South America: Brazil*.
Oceania: Fiji, Solomon Islands*.
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* new records according to the EPPO Secretariat.
Sources
Jeyanandarajah, P.; Brunt, A.A. (1993) The natural occurrence, transmission, properties and possible affinities of cowpea mild mottle virus.
Journal of Phytopathology, 137(2), 148-156.