Department of Biosciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi-110025, India.
Abstracts of the papers presented at the International Conference of Indian Virological Society on “Emerging and Re-emerging viral Diseases of the Tropics and Subtropics” at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, India, December 11–14, 2007.
Banana is widely grown in India and has great socio-economic significance. Currently it is considered to be the largest fruit crop accounting for 34.2% of total fruit production in India. Many viruses are known to infect banana causing severe damage to the crop. Among banana viral diseases, banana bunchy top disease caused by Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is the most common and destructive viral disease. It is transmitted by aphids and infected vegetative planting material. Symptomatically infected plants samples were collected from banana growing areas in Bihar, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh. Replicase and coat protein genes were amplified by PCR using gene specific primers. These amplified products were further cloned and sequenced. Sequenced data analysis revealed that both the genes are highly conserved among Indian isolates and they belongs to pacific group of BBTV. Furthermore, replicase and coat protein genes were compared for their sensitivity in detecting BBTV infection in banana. Based on quantitative PCR results, replicase gene was found to be more sensitive than coat protein gene for the detection of BBTV infection in banana samples.
