Frequent Occurrence of Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus in Cotton Leaf Curl Disease Affected Cotton in Pakistan

PLoS One. 2016 May 23;11(5):e0155520. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0155520. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is the major biotic constraint to cotton production on the Indian subcontinent, and is caused by monopartite begomoviruses accompanied by a specific DNA satellite, Cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMB). Since the breakdown of resistance against CLCuD in 2001/2002, only one virus, the "Burewala" strain of Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus (CLCuKoV-Bur), and a recombinant form of CLCuMB have consistently been identified in cotton across the major cotton growing areas of Pakistan. Unusually a bipartite isolate of the begomovirus Tomato leaf curl virus was identified in CLCuD-affected cotton recently. In the study described here we isolated the bipartite begomovirus Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV) from CLCuD-affected cotton. To assess the frequency and geographic occurrence of ToLCNDV in cotton, CLCuD-symptomatic cotton plants were collected from across the Punjab and Sindh provinces between 2013 and 2015. Analysis of the plants by diagnostic PCR showed the presence of CLCuKoV-Bur in all 31 plants examined and ToLCNDV in 20 of the samples. Additionally, a quantitative real-time PCR analysis of the levels of the two viruses in co-infected plants suggests that coinfection of ToLCNDV with the CLCuKoV-Bur/CLCuMB complex leads to an increase in the levels of CLCuMB, which encodes the major pathogenicity (symptom) determinant of the complex. The significance of these results are discussed.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Begomovirus / classification
  • Begomovirus / genetics
  • Begomovirus / isolation & purification*
  • DNA, Satellite / isolation & purification
  • DNA, Viral / genetics
  • Gossypium / virology*
  • Pakistan / epidemiology
  • Phylogeny
  • Plant Diseases / statistics & numerical data*
  • Plant Diseases / virology*
  • Plant Leaves / virology*
  • Prevalence
  • Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Solanum lycopersicum / virology*

Substances

  • DNA, Satellite
  • DNA, Viral

Grants and funding

SSZ is supported by Ph.D scholarship from Higher Education Commission (HEC), Govt. of Pakistan under “Indigenous 5000 Ph.D Fellowship Program”. This research was funded in part through the ‘‘Pak-US cotton productivity enhancement program’’ of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA) funded by United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Agricultural Research Service (ARS), under Agreement No. 58-6402-0-178F. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the USDA or ICARDA.