Molecular Evidence for the Occurrence of Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus and Squash Leaf Curl China Virus on Volunteer Pumpkin Plants in Tamil Nadu

Volunteer pumpkin plants showing yellow mosaic from two different locations of Tamil Nadu were collected near the cultivated field. Samples analyzed were found to be infected by Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus and Squash leaf curl China virus by PCR using coat protein gene specific primer pair(GKToLCVF/R) of Tomato leaf curl virus. The nucleotide and amino acid sequence analysis reveals that, these isolates shares maximum identity towards isolates infecting cucurbits than non-cucurbitaceous plants which were previously reported from India. These virus infections on these volunteer plants might serve as a reservoir for virus inoculum to the subsequent crops under field conditions.