Phylogenetic relationship of coat protein genomic components of Chilli leaf curl virus

Abstract

Chilli (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the economically most important vegetable crops in India. Leaf  curl disease in chilli, caused by begomovirus is a serious problem in northern India. The causal virus is transmitted to healthy plants by white flies (Bemisia tabaci). Infected plants exhibit typical curling of leaves, puckering, twisted petioles, and stunting. The confirmation of geminivirideae from leaf samples by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) based preliminary detection of virus was done from the infected chilli samples by amplifying DNA fragments (approximately 550 bp) using begomovirus specific- coat protein (CP) gene primers. Further, PCR based detection conditions were optimized for chilli leaf curl virus using specific primers 5‘- AGAATTATGTCCAAGCGACCA-3‘ and 5‘-AAGC
GTTGGGGATACACAAA-3‘. The 750 bp amplicon of CP gene was amplified, cloned and sequenced. Phylogenetic reconstructions of CP sequence with other begomovirus sequences retrieved from GenBank reveal close relationship among Indian and other asiatic isolates. This is the first report of the molecular characterization of coat protein sequence of chilli leaf curl virus and chilli plant is affected by radish leaf curl disease in India. The homology of the sequenced CP gene with other reported genes in GenBank database was 97% with other begomovirus coat protein gene.