Recombination Among Begomoviruses on Malvaceous Plants Leads to the Evolution of Okra Enation Leaf Curl Virus in Pakistan

• Published in: Journal of phytopathology Vol. 163; no. 9; pp. 764 - 776
• Main Authors: Serfraz, Saad, Amin, Imran, Akhtar, Khalid P, Mansoor, Shahid
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin Parey 01-09-2015; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
• Subjects: Abelmoschus esculentus; Ageratum conyzoides; Aleyrodidae; begomoviruses; Bhendi yellow vein mosaic virus; Cotton leaf curl Multan virus; evolution; leaf curling; malvaceous host; new species; okra; Okra enation leaf curl virus; sequence analysis; subtropics; tropics; vegetable crops; viruses; Pakistan; India
• ISSN: 0931-1785; 1439-0434
• DOI: 10.1111/jph.12373

Whitefly transmitted begomoviruses (family Geminiviridae) are the major reason for significant yield losses of dicotyledonous crops in tropics and subtropics. Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) is one of the important vegetable crops, and leaf curl disease caused by geminiviruses is the most important limiting factor for its production in Pakistan. Here, we report a new species of okra‐infecting begomovirus in south‐eastern region of Pakistan and the name Okra enation leaf curl virus (OELCuV) complex is proposed. This okra enation leaf curl disease complex (OELCuD) in Pakistan is found to be associated with Ageratum conyzoides symptomless alphasatellite (AConSLA). All efforts to clone the betasatellite were unsuccessful. Comprehensive sequence analyses suggest that intermalvaceous recombination between okra and cotton‐infecting begomoviruses resulted in the evolution of the new species. Surprisingly, Bhendi yellow vein mosaic virus (BYVMV) which has not been reported previously from Pakistan is the major parent while Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMV) acts as a distant parent of the virus. Comparative recombination analysis also reveals that okra‐infecting begomoviruses from south and north‐western India is causing OELCuD in the Pakistan by recombining with CLCuMV at the Rep (1964–1513 nts). Recombination is common among geminiviruses and recombining of BYVMV and CLCuMV resulted in a new species: OELCuV. To the best of our knowledge, this evolution of a new species of okra‐infecting begomovirus is the first report of intermalvaceous recombination where Rep acts as the target region.