A novel combination of a new umbravirus, a new satellite RNA and potato leafroll virus causes tobacco bushy top disease in Ethiopia.

Etiological studies of a recently emerged bushy top disease of tobacco in Ethiopia indicated that a ~4.5-kb dsRNA from infected plants represents an umbravirus, whereas a smaller band (~0.5 kb) is that of a new satellite RNA. Potato leafroll virus was also consistently associated with the disease. The three agents, whose experimental host ranges are restricted to members of the family Solanaceae, always occurred together in field samples and are transmitted together by the aphid Myzus persicae nicotianae. The umbravirus, which represents a new species, is most closely related to groundnut rosette virus, and the name Ethiopian tobacco bushy top virus is proposed.