Molecular identification of Ageratum enation virus (AEV) associated with leaf curl disease of tomato(Solanum lycopersicum) in India

Leaf samples of tomato plants showing severe leaf curl symptoms were collected from Pantnagar, Uttarakhand state of India. Full-length clones of a monopartite begomovirus were isolated and complete genome sequence was determined. Genome organization of this virus was found to be similar to those of other old world begomoviruses. Neither alphasatellite nor DNA B component was detected. The DNA-A molecule (2753 nt) sequences showed the highest levels of nucleotide sequence identity of 92.9 to 98.7 % with the DNA-A of Ageratum enation virus (AEV) isolates and less identity of 77.1 to 86.3 % with known tomato-infecting begomoviruses from India. The incidence of AEV in protected cultivation was upto 68.5 % noticed.