Cotton leaf curl virus disease: an overview

Cotton leaf curl virus disease (CLCuD) is caused by a complex of whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) transmitted Begomoviruses having monopartite genome with circular ssDNA associated with satellite (beta and alpha satellite) DNA molecules. The disease has been prevalent in many African countries, Pakistan and India but has been recently reported from China and Philippines. The initiation of disease is characterized by small vein thickening (SVT) type symptoms on young upper leaves of plants followed by upward/downward leaf curling and leaf/vein thickening. Infected plants later develop leafy enations on the underside of leaf and become stunted leading to severe yield reduction. The occurrence of strains, losses caused due to disease, its epidemiology and recent management strategies have been discussed in this present review.