Molecular Characterization of Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus and Pepper leaf curl betasatellite Naturally Infecting Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) in India

Pumpkin cultivation in India is affected by severe incidence of a yellow vein mosaic disease. Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus and Squash leaf curl China virus are known to be associated with this disease in India. We were able to identify a third begomovirus—Tomato leaf curl Palampur virus (ToLCPMV), from pumpkin showing typical symptoms of the disease at Varanasi based on the sequence of complete DNA-A genome of the virus. The complete DNA-A sequence of the virus shared more than 99% sequence identity with other ToLCPMV isolates available in the GenBank and clustered with them in the phylogenetic analysis. This betasatellite amplified from the same infected sample has been identified as Pepper leaf curl betasatellite (PepLCB) which also infects chilli in India. There was 92% sequence identity between the two isolates. This is the first report of natural infection of ToLCPMV on pumpkin and association of PepLCB with yellow vein mosaic disease of pumpkin in India.