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Tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus, a New Begomovirus Species Causing a Severe Leaf Curl Disease of Tomato in Varanasi, India

First and fifth authors: International Laboratory for Tropical Agricultural Biotechnology, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 N. Warson Road, St. Louis, MO 63132; and second, third, and fourth authors: Indian Institute of Vegetable Research, 1 Gandhinagar (Naria), PB. 5002, PO-BHU, Varanasi, 221 005, Uttar Pradesh, India

The biological and molecular properties of Tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus from Varanasi, India (ToLCGV-[Var]) were characterized. ToLCGV-[Var] could be transmitted by grafting and through whitefly transmission in a persistent manner. The full-length genome of DNA-A and DNA-B of ToLCGV-[Var] was cloned in pUC18. Sequence analysis revealed that DNA-A (AY190290) is 2,757 bp and DNA-B (AY190291) is 2,688 bp in length. ToLCGV-[Var] could infect and cause symptoms in tomato, pepper, Nicotiana benthamiana, and N. tabacum when partial tandem dimeric constructs of DNA-A and DNA-B were co-inoculated by particle bombardment. DNA-A alone also is infectious, but symptoms were milder and took longer to develop. ToLCGV-Var virus can be transmitted through sap inoculation from infected tomato plants to the above-mentioned hosts causing the same symptoms. Open reading frames (ORFs) in both DNA-A and DNA-B are organized similarly to those in other begomoviruses. DNA-A and DNA-B share a common region of 155 bp with only 60% sequence identity. DNA-B of ToLCGV-[Var] shares overall 80% identity with DNA-B of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus-Severe (ToLCNDV-Svr) and 75% with ToLCNDV-[Lucknow] (ToLCNDV-[Luc]). Comparison of DNA-A sequence with different begomoviruses indicates that ToLCGV-[Var] shares 84% identity with Tomato leaf curl Karnataka virus (ToLCKV) and 66% with ToLCNDV-Svr. ToLCGV-[Var] shares a maximum of 98% identity with another isolate of the same region (ToLCGV-[Mir]; AF449999) and 97% identity with one isolate from Gujarat (ToLCGV-[Vad]; AF413671). All three viruses belong to the same species that is distinct from all the other geminivirus species described so far in the genus Begomovirus of the family Geminiviridae. The name Tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus is proposed because the first sequence was taken from an isolate of Gujarat, India.