Viral disease of tomato crops ( Solanum lycopesicum L.): an overview

Global production of tomato has been hampered by the increased incidences of tomato viral disease. The high genetic heterogeneity of tomato plant viruses, because of their high mutation rates, has lead to ineffective control strategies and the fast spread of the viruses. Viruses utilize the resources in host plants for their replication. Therefore, identification and removal of the non-redundant proteins in the tomato plant based on the biological properties of the virus combined with an RNAi strategy may be a future control strategy. In this review, fourteen tomato viral diseases and their causal agents are reviewed and the control strategies for tomato viral diseases are discussed.