First report of Scallion mosaic virus on wild Japanese garlic (Allium macrostemon) in Japan

In the spring of 2012, wild Japanese garlic (Allium macrostemon) plants with mild striping of leaves (WONS2) and without symptoms (WONS9) were collected from different sites in Saga City, Japan. Scallion mosaic virus (ScaMV) was identified by the nucleotide sequence of coat protein coding gene regions. The ScaMV WONS2 and WONS9 consensus sequences had 88.7 % nucleotide identity, and they were 89.0 % and 95.7 % identical with the sequences of ScaMV Hanzhou isolate from China. Wild Japanese garlic plants inoculated mechanically with the Japanese ScaMV isolate developed the mild stripe symptoms. This is the first report of ScaMV in Japan.