Sailendra Kumar, Anamta Rizvi, Sangeeta Saxena*
Department of Biotechnology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, Lucknow-226025, India
Cite this article: Kumar, S., Rizvi, A., Saxena, S. 2024. Phylogenetic and Evolutionary Analysis of Papaya Leaf Curl Viruses Infecting a Diverse Host Range: An In-Silico Approach. J. Appl. Sci. Innov. Technol. 3 (1), 41-47.
Highlights
- Genomic sequences of twenty-three papaya leaf curl virus (PaLCuV) isolates were retrieved from NCBI.
- The sequences were related to PaLCuV isolates infecting different crops.
- Pairwise sequence comparison and phylogenetic analysis were done to check the diversity and evolutionary aspects of the selected isolates.
Abstract
Papaya leaf curl virus belongs to the largest family of plant viruses Geminiviridae and genus Begomovirus that causes a very devastating disease in papaya known as leaf curl disease. Curling in leaves is the most prominent and typical symptom in the host plants. Yellowing and thickness of veins are other characteristic symptoms of the disease. In recent few decades, Papaya leaf curl viruses have been noticed to infect a range of hosts other than papaya including weed and non-weed crops. Leaf curl disease causes severe symptoms in plants leading to the stunted growth and ultimately yield loss. They have been proved to be one of the most devastating biotic factors for the production of highly economical crops including papaya, chili, tomato, soybean, radish, jasmine etc. In this study, the genomic sequences of papaya leaf curl viruses isolated from different hosts were taken to assess the diversity and phylogenetic relationship among them. The isolates in the study were found to be related to same species, they were more or less closely related but evolved to infect a diverse host range. This approach can eventually lead to the development of a unified mechanism to prevent the outbreak of the leaf curl disease globally.
Keywords: Papaya leaf curl virus (PaLCuV); Begomovirus; Phylogenetic analysis; Host range
Scope: Biotechnology
