PLANT VIRUS

1 . A method for identifying a ToTV-resistant plant, comprising the steps of:

a) exposing a plant or plant part to an infective dosage of ToTV; and

b) identifying said plant as a ToTV-resistant plant when, after said exposure, either

disease-symptoms in said plant or plant part remain absent or are delayed in expression or are at least reduced in severity or are localized relative to a susceptible control plant, or

ToTV virus or ToTV genomic sequences are not present in said plant or plant part or the presence of ToTV virus is at least quantitatively reduced relative to a susceptible control plant.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein in step b) the presence of ToTV in said plant or plant part is determined by detecting the presence of ToTV in a sample comprising determining in said sample the presence of a ToTV virus or component thereof by reacting said sample with a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:16, sequences having a nucleotide sequence homology of at least 50% to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:15 or SEQ ID NO:16 or their complementary strands and ToTV-specific fragments thereof.

3 . A method of producing a ToTV-resistant plant comprising the steps of:

a) identifying a ToTV-resistant donor plant by performing a method according to claim 1 ;

b) crossing said ToTV-resistant donor plant with a recipient plant; and

c) selecting from offspring plants a resistant plant by performing a method according to claim 1 .

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said donor plant is a plant of the family Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae.

5 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said donor plant is a tomato plant, an eggplant plant, a pepper plant, a melon plant, a watermelon plant or a cucumber plant.

6 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said recipient plant is a plant of the family Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae.

7 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said recipient plant is a tomato plant, an eggplant plant, a pepper plant, a melon plant, a watermelon plant or a cucumber plant.

8 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein said recipient plant is a tomato plant of the species Solanum lycopersicum.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein said Solanum lycopersicum is an S. lycopersicum line that possesses one or more commercially desirable characteristics.

10 . A ToTV-resistant plant, or part thereof, obtainable by

a) identifying a ToTV-resistant donor plant;

b) crossing said ToTV-resistant donor plant with a recipient plant; and

c) selecting from offspring plants a ToTV resistant plant.

11 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 wherein the ToTV-resistant donor plant is identified by

a) exposing a plant or plant part to an infective dosage of ToTV; and

b) identifying said plant as a ToTV-resistant donor plant when, after said exposure, either

disease-symptoms in said plant or plant part remain absent or are delayed in expression or are at least reduced in severity or are localized relative to a susceptible control plant, or

ToTV virus or ToTV genomic sequences are not present in said plant or plant part or the presence of ToTV virus is at least quantitatively reduced relative to a susceptible control plant.

12 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 wherein the ToTV-resistant plant selected from offspring plants is identified by

a) exposing a plant or plant part to an infective dosage of ToTV; and

b) identifying said plant as a resistant plant when, after said exposure, either

disease-symptoms in said plant or plant part remain absent or are delayed in expression or are at least reduced in severity or are localized relative to a susceptible control plant, or

ToTV virus or ToTV genomic sequences are not present in said plant or plant part or the presence of ToTV virus is at least quantitatively reduced relative to a susceptible control plant.

13 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 wherein the presence of ToTV in said plant or plant part is determined by detecting the presence of ToTV in a sample of the plant or plant part comprising determining in said sample the presence of a ToTV virus or component thereof by reacting said sample with a nucleic acid sequence selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:15, SEQ ID NO:16, sequences having a nucleotide sequence homology of at least 50% to SEQ ID NO:1, SEQ ID NO:2, SEQ ID NO:15 or SEQ ID NO:16 or their complementary strands and ToTV-specific fragments thereof.

14 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said donor plant is a plant of the family Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae.

15 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said donor plant is a tomato plant, an eggplant plant, a pepper plant, a melon plant, a watermelon plant or a cucumber plant.

16 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said recipient plant is a plant of the family Solanaceae or Cucurbitaceae.

17 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said recipient plant is a tomato plant, an eggplant plant, a pepper plant, a melon plant, a watermelon plant or a cucumber plant.

18 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said recipient plant is a tomato plant of the species Solanum lycopersicum.

19 . The ToTV-resistant plant of claim 10 , wherein said Solanum lycopersicum is an S. lycopersicum line that possesses one or more commercially desirable characteristics.