Occurrence of cucumber mosaic cucumovirus with satellite RNA in lethal necrosis affected tomatoes in Croatia

In the last few years, tomato crops of Southern coastal Croatia have been repetitively stricken by a devastating necrotic tomato disease on such a scale that it endangered tomato production in the area. Cucumber mosaic cucumovirus (CMV) was found in symptomatic plants by serology. Low-molecular weight RNA bands were detected in total nucleic acid extracts from naturally infected tomato fruits. The satellite nature of this RNA was proven by molecular hybridization with a digoxigenine-labelled satellite RNA probe. Molecular and biological characterization of the satRNA proved to be involved in codetermination of the lethal necrosis disease. This is the first report of CMV strain containing a satRNA in Croatia.