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ABSTRACT:

Tomato farms in Kaduna Kano Bauchi and Gombe States were visited for sampling and sample collection Leaf samples showing typical viral symptoms of leaf mosaic curling mottling and yellowing were collected for laboratory analysis Total nucleic acid was isolated from the samples using the CTAB method and amplified in Polymerase chain reaction with viral coat protein specific primers Amplicons were sequenced and the sequences were aligned and BLAST searched for viruses with high similarity in the Gen Bank database Sequences with high similarity were retrieved and used for phylogenetic analysis Typical symptoms of viral infections were observed on tomato plants during the field visits The percentage occurrence of apparently infected plants from the study areas ranged from 20 to 90 The 650 bp coat protein fragment was amplified from the samples Sequence analysis and phylogeny revealed that the virus infecting Tomato in the locations was highly homologous 9284 to Pepper yellow vein Mali virus This is the first report of Pepper yellow vein Mali virus on tomato in Nigeria which could have been due to indiscriminate movement of planting materials across regions especially between neighboring countries It is necessary to adhere strictly to regulatory arrangements and create awareness to highlight the dangers of illegal import movement of planting materials into the country.