Cucurbita maxima , A New Host of Tomato Leaf Curl Palampur Virus From India

Cucurbita maxima is an important Cucurbitaceous vegetable crop cultivated for its immature and tender fruits used in various culinary applications. During the survey in 2022, we found that the C. maxima crop was severely affected by the genus begomovirus-like disease, which is associated with mosaic and leaf curl, with 40%-75% disease incidence. The symptomatic leaves were collected for the biological and molecular identification of begomovirus in C. maxima. The associated disease was successfully transmitted by whiteflies in a transmission study from naturally infected C. maxima to healthy C. maxima and other test host plant species in 30 days post inoculation. The complete viral DNA-A genome was successfully amplified by begomovirus gene-specific primers through PCR, and nucleotide sequence data were submitted to the NCBI GenBank database (Acc. No. OQ320769). The isolates (OQ320769) showed 97%-98% nucleotide sequence identities and close phylogenetic relationships with various isolates of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPalV). Therefore, the isolates under study were identified as ToLCPalV. To the best of our knowledge, C. maxima is a new host of ToLCPalV associated with mosaic disease, and it has been identified for the first time in India, which could pose a major constraint to C. maxima production in Central India.