First report of chlorotic and necrotic disease caused by Tobacco rattle virus on Capsicum annuum in Japan

Severe chlorosis and necrosis were observed on Capsicum annuum in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. A virus strain was isolated and identified as Tobacco rattle virus (TRV) by rod-shaped viral particles observed with transmission electron microscopy and by sequence analysis with a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using TRV-specific primers. The disease was reproduced by back-inoculation to green pepper seedlings and their subsequent transplant into field soil containing putative nematode vectors, Trichodorus and/or Paratrichodorus . Thus, we showed that TRV is responsible for this novel disease. This report is the first of TRV infection of C. annuum in Japan.