Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) is a whitefly-transmitted bipartite begomovirus (genus Begomovirus, family Geminiviridae) that causes damage to multiple cultivated plant species mainly belonging to the Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae families. ToLCNDV was limited to Asian countries until 2012, when it was first reported in Spain, causing severe epidemics in cucurbit crops. Here, we show that a genetically-uniform ToLCNDV population is present in Spain, compatible with a recent introduction. Analyses of ToLCNDV isolates reported from other parts of the world indicated that this virus has a highly heterogeneous population genetically with no evident geographical, plant host or year-based phylogenetic groups observed. Isolates emerging in Spain belong to a strain that seems to have evolved by recombination. Isolates of this strain seem adapted to infecting cucurbits, but poorly infect tomatoes.

Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) (genus Crinivirus, family Closteroviridae) causes important emergent diseases in tomato and other solanaceous crops. ToCV is not transmitted mechanically and is naturally transmitted by whiteflies. The ToCV genome consists of two molecules of linear, positive-sense RNA encapsidated into long flexuous virions. We present the construction of full-length cDNA clones of the ToCV genome (RNA1 and RNA2) fused to the SP6 RNA polymerase promoter and under the control of the CaMV 35S promoter. RNA1 replicated in the absence of RNA2 in Nicotiana benthamiana and tomato protoplasts after inoculation with cDNA-derived in vitro transcripts. Agroinfiltration of RNA1 and RNA2 under the 35S promoter resulted in systemic infection in N. benthamiana plants. In addition, tomato plants were infected by grafting with agroinfected N. benthamiana scions, showing the typical ToCV symptoms. The viral progeny generated in tomato was transmissible by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci.

Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV), a member of the genus Crinivirus (family Closteroviridae), has been present in Spain since at least 1997, causing annual epidemics of yellowing in protected tomato crops. In 1999, sweet pepper plants exhibiting stunting and symptoms of interveinal yellowing and mild upward curling in the leaves, were found to be infected with ToCV in a greenhouse heavily infested with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in the province of Almería, southeastern Spain. This study investigated the prevalence of ToCV in tomato and pepper crops in the major growing areas of southeastern Spain (Murcia, Almería and Málaga provinces) over a 3-year period. In addition, an experimental system was developed for ToCV inoculation using B. tabaci as a vector, which allowed analysis of susceptibility of different pepper cultivars to the virus. The disease syndrome and yield losses induced by ToCV in pepper were also studied under experimental conditions, confirming severe yield reduction in infected plants.