1Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla-171 001, (Himachal Pradesh).
2AICPIP, CPRI, Shimla-171 001, (Himachal Pradesh).
3Department of Plant Pathology, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125 004, (Haryana).
Potato plants showing apical leaf curl and pinkish pigmentation were examined for the presence of geminivirus with electron microscope. Procedure for the clarified virus concentrate (CVC) preparation was standardized. CVC showed presence of a high concentration of geminate virus particles ca. 28×17 nm. Though virions did not show trapping with Indian cassava mosaic geminivirus (ICMV) antiserum, they exhibited excellent clumping with the antiserum in liquid phase immune electron microscopy (IEM). This is the first report of natural occurrence of a geminivirus infecting potatoes in India and the virus is tentatively named as potato apical leaf curl begomovirus.