Detection and identification of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus infecting Cucurbita pepo in India

In a survey of cucurbit growing areas of Gorakhpur,Kushinagar and Maharajganj districts (Eastern U.P.,India)during 2008.Cucurbita pepo plants were found infected with mosaic mottling,severe mosaic,leaf curling,and yellowing and stunting of whole plants.PCR assay,using begomovirus coat protein gene specific primers (AV1-F & AVl-R),resulted in amplification of ~800 bp product in symptomatic leaf samples of C.pepo collected from all the locations.The amplified product of Gorakhpur isolate was cloned and sequenced,and data was submitted in GenBank.Nucleotide BLAST and phylogenetic analyses of the virus isolate showed highest (95%) sequence identity and a close relationships with the isolates of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPV),suggesting the virus isolate to be the strain of ToLCPV.