PCR based diagnosis of begomoviruses associated with tomato leaf curl disease in India^†

This paper reports development of a set of common primers and four sets of virus specific primers to detect ToLCNDV, ToLCBV, ToLCGV and ToLCKV, which are associated with tomato leaf curl disease (TomLCD) in India. The primer sets were first validated by amplification of desired genomic fragments from the cloned genomes of the four begomoviruses and then were tested for the detection of these viruses in field samples collected from different locations in India. Of the 26 TomLCD samples tested by PCR, 22 tested positive with the set of common primers and 16 tested positive for the target begomoviruses. ToLCNDV was detected in four samples, ToLCBV in six, ToLCKV in four, and ToLCGV in five samples. This limited survey shows that ToLCNDV and ToLCBV are distributed in northern and southern India, whereas ToLCKV and ToLCGV have a wider distribution. Mixed infection by two target viruses was observed in three TomLCD samples collected from Maharashtra, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh; two of these samples were infected with ToLCKV, which is prone to recombination. The results of the present study are indicative of association of uncharacterized variants or new begomoviruses with TomLCD in India, as (a) 27% of the samples found positive by the set of common primers did not amplify with species specific primers, and (b)16% of the samples tested negative by PCR using common primers, although all the samples were collected from plants showing typical TomLCD symptoms. These plants might have been infected by some uncharacterized virus(es).