Efficient Transmission and Propagation of Tomato Chlorosis Virus by Simple Single-Leaflet Grafting

Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV), a member of the genus Crinivirus, has caused an epidemic disease in tomato worldwide. ToCV is phloem-limited and transmitted by whiteflies in a semi-persistent manner, but not by mechanical inoculation. Experimental propagation of ToCV has been performed primarily by using whitefly-mediated inoculation. To develop a simple and convenient method for transmission of ToCV, we investigated grafting single-leaflets from tomato plants infected with ToCV to recipient tomato seedlings. Forty-one of 46 tomato seedlings tested were grafted successfully with single-leaflets infected with ToCV. Among them, 36 seedlings (87.8%) were systemically infected with ToCV and developed typical symptoms. Our results demonstrated that single-leaflet grafting could provide a sufficient amount of inoculum for the transmission of ToCV to the grafted seedlings.