First report of an alphasatellite associated with Okra enation leaf curl virus.

An alphasatellite DNA associated with Okra enation leaf curl virus (OELCuV) which causes enation and leaf curling in okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) plants was characterized. The full-length DNA comprises 1,350 nucleotides and shows typical genome organization of an alphasatellite. It shows the highest nucleotide sequence identity (79.7 %) to Hollyhock yellow vein virus-associated symptomless alphasatellite (HoYVSLA). This is the first report of the association of an alphasatellite with OELCuV from India.

A simple and efficient method for agroinfection of Vernonia cinerea with infectious clones of Vernonia yellow vein virus.

Vernonia yellow vein virus (VeYVV) is a distinct monopartite begomovirus associated with a satellite DNA ß. After constructing dimers of both DNA A and DNA ß in binary vectors, a number of infection methods were attempted. However, only a modified stem-prick method produced up to 83% infection in the natural host Vernonia cinerea, thus, fulfilling the Koch's postulate. The presence of the viral DNA in the agroinfected plants was confirmed by rolling circle amplification (RCA), followed by Southern hybridization. DNA ß induces typical symptoms of Vernonia yellow vein disease (VeYVD) when co-agroinoculated with the begomovirus to Vernonia and also leads to the accumulation of DNA A systemically. VeYVV represents a new member of the emerging group of monopartite begomoviruses requiring a satellite component for symptom induction.

Molecular characterization of a distinct begomovirus species from Vernonia cinerea and its associated DNA-beta using the bacteriophage Phi 29 DNA polymerase.

Vernonia cinerea plants with yellow vein symptoms were collected around crop fields in Madurai. A portion (550 bp) of the AV1 gene amplified using degenerate primers from the total DNA purified from diseased leaf sample was cloned and sequenced. Specific primers derived from the above sequence were used to amplify 2,745 nucleotides with the typical genome organization of begomoviral DNA A (EMBL Accession No. AM182232). Sequence comparison with other begomoviruses revealed the greatest identity (82.4%) with Emilia yellow vein virus (EmYVV-[Fz1]) from China and less than 80% with all other known begomoviruses. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has therefore recognized Vernonia yellow vein virus (VeYVV) as a distinct begomovirus species. Conventional PCR could not amplify the DNA B or DNA beta from the diseased tissue. However, the beta DNA (1364 bp) associated with the disease was obtained (Accession No. FN435836) by the rolling circle amplification-restriction fragment length polymorphism method (RCA-RFLP) using Phi 29 DNA polymerase. Sequence analysis shows that DNA beta of VeYVV has the highest identity (56.8%) with DNA beta of Sigesbeckia yellow vein Guangxi betasatellite (SibYVGxB-[CN: Gx111:05]) and 56-53% with DNA beta associated with other begomoviruses. This is the first report of the molecular characterization of VeYVV from V. cinerea in India. The complete molecular characterization, phylogenetic analysis, and putative recombination events in VeYVV are reported.