Melon chlorotic leaf curl virus: characterization and differential reassortment with closest relatives reveal adaptive virulence in the squash leaf curl virus clade and host shifting by the host-restricted bean calico mosaic virus.

ABSTRACT: The genome components of the Melon chlorotic leaf curl virus (MCLCuV) were cloned from symptomatic cantaloupe leaves collected in Guatemala during 2002. The MCLCuV DNA-A and DNA-B components shared their closest nucleotide identities among begomoviruses, at approximately 90 and 81%, respectively, with a papaya isolate of MCLCuV from Costa Rica. The closest relatives at the species level were other members of the Squash leaf curl virus (SLCV) clade, which is endemic in the southwestern United States and Mexico. Biolistic inoculation of cantaloupe seedlings with the MCLCuV DNA-A and -B components resulted in the development of characteristic disease symptoms, providing definitive evidence of causality. MCLCuV experimentally infected species within the Cucurbitaceae, Fabaceae, and Solanaceae.

SUBMITTER: Idris AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2258725 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature