Symptoms vary from cultivar to cultivar, and can include chlorotic streaks, mottle, and stunting.
Mixed infection with other viruses can cause more severe disease. Vectors include several economically destructive pests, such as several species of corn rootworm. MCMV is apparently not seed-transmitted. Besides maize, MCMV can also infect wheat, barley, rye, and other grains and grasses. Although MCMV was previously assigned to the sobemovirus group, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses now considers it to be the type species of the genus Machlomovirus .