Epidemiological insights into water and soil-mediatedtransmission of tomato mottle mosaic virusVučurović, Ana (Avtor) Brodarič, Jakob (Avtor) Bajde, Irena (Avtor) Kitek, Miha (Avtor) Mehle, Nataša (Avtor) RPA assayRT- qPCRsurvivaltomatotomato mottle mosaic viruswater-linked epidemiologyTomato mottle mosaic virus (ToMMV) poses a growing threat to tomato and pepper crops, yet its epidemiology remains largelyunexplored. This study aimed to investigate water- and soil-mediated transmission of ToMMV under controlled conditions. Theexperiment involved mechanical inoculation of tomato plants, which demonstrated that infectious ToMMV particles remainedviable in water up to 27 weeks at a 10−2 dilution. In hydroponic systems, ToMMV present in the nutrient solution caused systemicinfection in bait plants within 5–17 weeks, depending on the severity of root injury, while infection was not observed in plantswith intact roots even after 38 weeks of exposure. The transmission of the pathogen via irrigation was also confirmed in an ex-periment where seedlings and seed-derived plants grown in substrate (roots were not deliberately injured) were irrigated withToMMV-contaminated water, resulting in infection 6 and 10 weeks after the start of exposure, respectively. The soil-mediatedtransmission process was further verified by planting healthy seedlings and seeds into previously contaminated substrate, re-sulting in infection within a period of 3–18 weeks. These findings emphasise the need for upgrading integrated managementstrategies, including water quality monitoring and reliable, rapid diagnostics, to mitigate the spread of ToMMV in greenhouseproduction systems. To support the development of effective monitoring strategies, the study also assessed the performance oftwo isothermal amplification assays for potential on-site detection of ToMMV in water. A recombinase-polymerase amplification(RPA) assay exhibited sensitivity comparable to that of reverse transcription-quantitative PCR and reliably detected ToMMV incrude water samples without RNA extraction.20262026-01-22 13:59:03Neznano25545UDK: 632ISSN pri članku: 1365-3059DOI: 10.1111/ppa.70101COBISS_ID: 265459715sl