Abstract
An unfamiliar mosaic occurred severely in 1978 on sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L. cvs. New-Face and Shin-Sakigake) in protected cultivation at Nozaka, Chiba Prefecture. The diseased plant showed severe mosaic symptoms on young leaves and yellow mottlings or streaks on fruits, and the disease appeared to be caused by one of the strains of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV). This virus was identical with tomato strain (T) or ordinary strain (OM) of TMV in the morphology of the particle, thermal inactivation, dilution end-point and stability, but it caused severe mosaic symptoms on all the sweet and pungent peppers tested including several TMV-resistant cultivars bred in Japan, USA, Holland and England. Although the virus never infected tomatoes, it induced very small local lesions on leaves of Nicotiana glutinosa and was latent on Nicotiana tabacum cv. Samsun. This virus was serologically different from both TMV-T and TMV-OM, though these viruses had some common antigens. Therefore, it was concluded that the disease was caused by a new strain of TMV. For the virus, the name, the peppre strain of TMV (TMV-P) was proposed.
