Identification of Begomoviruses from Legume Crop and Weed Plants and Viruliferous Status of The Whitefly Bemisia tabaci in Central India

Three begomoviruses were identified based on complete genome sequence from weeds in Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Central India. Alternanthera yellow vein virus (AlYVV; 2745 bp) was identified in Alternanthera sessilis, Tobacco curly shoot virus (TbCSV; 2766 bp) in Sida acuta, and Cotton Leaf curl Banga-lore virus (CLCuBaV; 2750 bp) in Malvastrum coro-mandelianum. A betasatellite DNA (1356 bp) was found associated with CLCuBaV, sharing sequence identity of 87–88% with those of other CLCuBaV iso-lates. TbCSV was detected in the food legumes soy-bean, black gram and pigeon pea, showing co-infection with Mungbean yellow mosaic India virus (MYMIV). Whitefly Bemisia tabaci, the vector of be-gomoviruses, harboured TbCSV and CLCuBaV at a high rate (10–60% and 5–30% respectively). The per-centage of insects harbouring MYMIV was also ex-tremely high (60–100), indicating that the whiteflies were viruliferous for multiple begomoviruses in this region. High population density of the whitefly and intensive cultivation of crop plants promote mixed infection of various begomoviruses in the fields of Central India.