Identification and Molecular Characterization of Cotton Leaf Curl Begomovirus Complex Infecting Cotton in Baluchistan, Pakistan

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) is a serious threat to cotton productivity throughout the world, caused by whitefly transmitted single stranded DNA viruses belonging to the genus Begomovirus. Typical begomovirus disease symptoms were observed on cotton crop in 2017, in the Barkhan district, Baluchistan province, Pakistan. Symptomatic leaves were sampled and subjected to PCR amplification using both universal and specific primers for begomovirus and their satellites. The amplicons were cloned and sequenced; analysis of the resulting full-length viral sequences identified the begomovirus as a strain of cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV), which was associated with the cognate cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB), and two alpha-satellite molecules cotton leaf curl Multan alphasatellite (CLCuMA) and okra leaf curl alphasatellite (OLCA).