Tomato mottle mosaic virus (ToMMV) is a tobamovirus found in a Solanum lycopersicum sample collected in Mexico in 2009. To assess the possible presence of ToMMV in Europe, accessions from a historic seed collection were tested by real-time RT-PCR and Illumina sequencing. ToMMV was identified in historical seed accessions produced in France, the Netherlands and Spain. Three different near complete genome sequences were obtained, each corresponding to the country in which the seeds had been produced. Positive samples from France and Spain could be related to the same production location and year, respectively, while the identical genome sequences from the Netherlands were obtained from samples produced in different locations and years between 1981 and 2007. The latter could be due to the fact that the Dutch seed accessions had been repacked in the past at the same location and time as accessions with a relatively high virus load from 2007. This indicates that possibly only the seeds from 2007 originated from ToMMV-infected plants, while the detection of ToMMV in the older seed accessions resulted from cross contamination. This data shows that ToMMV has been around in Europe before its first description and is possibly more widespread than currently known.

Bacterial spot is a significant disease of tomato and pepper crops caused by members of four Xanthomonas pathogens from three species, namely Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. euvesicatoria, Xanthomonas euvesicatoria pv. perforans, Xanthomonas vesicatoria and Xanthomonas hortorum pv. gardneri. These Gram‐negative bacterial plant pathogens are recommended for regulation as quarantine pests by the European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organization and are currently regulated on tomato and pepper seeds in many regions of the world. Tomato and pepper seeds are a transmission pathway for all three species. Real‐time PCR TaqMan tests were developed and validated for specific identification of isolates from tomato and pepper seeds of these pathogens. These tests are designed to be used in seed health tests after isolation on semiselective media to reduce the number of isolates that need testing in follow‐up pathogenicity tests. A second set of real‐time TaqMan PCR tests was subsequently developed targeting two markers for each taxonomic group of strains. The analytical specificity of all developed tests was evaluated with in vitro and in silico analyses. Diagnostic specificity and sensitivity were also validated on collections of isolates in several laboratories.