Alabi Olufemi J, Villegas Cecilia, Gregg Lori, Murray K Daniel
Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, Texas A&M AgriLife Research and Extension Center, Weslaco, TX, 78596, USA.
South Texas College, McAllen, TX, 78501, USA.
Arch Virol. 2016 Jun;161(6):1729-33. doi: 10.1007/s00705-016-2821-z. Epub 2016 Mar 26.
Two isolates of a novel bipartite begomovirus, tentatively named malvastrum bright yellow mosaic virus (MaBYMV), were molecularly characterized from naturally infected plants of the genus Malvastrum showing bright yellow mosaic disease symptoms in South Texas. Six complete DNA-A and five DNA-B genome sequences of MaBYMV obtained from the isolates ranged in length from 2,608 to 2,609 nucleotides (nt) and 2,578 to 2,605 nt, respectively. Both genome segments shared a 178- to 180-nt common region. In pairwise comparisons, the complete DNA-A and DNA-B sequences of MaBYMV were most similar (87-88 % and 79-81 % identity, respectively) and phylogenetically related to the corresponding sequences of sida mosaic Sinaloa virus-[MX-Gua-06]. Further analysis revealed that MaBYMV is a putative recombinant virus, thus supporting the notion that malvaceous hosts may be influencing the evolution of several begomoviruses. The design of new diagnostic primers enabled the detection of MaBYMV in cohorts of Bemisia tabaci collected from symptomatic Malvastrum sp. plants, thus implicating whiteflies as potential vectors of the virus.
