Rosner, A., Virology Department, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Lachman, A., Virology Department, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Pearlsman, M., Virology Department, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Maslenin, L., Virology Department, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel
Antignus, Y., Virology Department, Agricultural Research Organization, Volcani Center, Bet Dagan 50250, Israel

A PVY isolate which causes strong necrotic lesions in tomato was isolated and characterised. It did not infect potato and did not react with antiserum specific to the N-strain of PVY. Restriction endonuclease cleavage patterns of PCR products derived from the 5′-end of the virus genome (Hinc II and Rsa I) clearly distinguished the tomato, pepper and potato strains. Additional sequence analysis indicated that the tomato and pepper isolates were closely related, while both markedly differed from the necrotic strains of potato. Hence, it was concluded that the necrotic tomato isolate is uniquely specific for tomato.