First record of Cactus virus X in Dragon Fruit (Hylocereus spp.) in India

Dragon fruit (Hylocereus spp.) is an important fruit crop for its high nutrition and profitability grown in India and many other countries. Dragon fruit stem samples exhibiting chlorosis and mottling symptoms, collected from Sangareddy district of Telangana, India revealed a flexuous rod-shaped virus with a length of ~ 600 nm in electron microscopic examination. The RT-PCR based detection of Cactus virus X using specific primers resulted in the production of ~ 900 bp amplicons covering the full length triple gene block protein 3 and coat protein regions. Further, cloning and sequence information of the ~ 900 bp amplicon revealed the presence of Cactus virus X (CVX) in dragon fruit. To our knowledge, this is the first record of CVX causing particular disease in dragon fruit from India.