First report of papaya leaf curl virus and its associated papaya leaf curl betasatellite infecting Catharanthus roseus plants in India

Catharanthus roseus (Madagascar periwinkle) plants exhibiting typical begomovirus symptoms, i.e., leaf yellowing and curling were found in Lakshmangarh, Rajasthan, India. Symptomatic and healthy leaf samples were collected and subjected to DNA extraction and polymerase chain reaction, using universal primers conserved for the coat protein region of begomoviruses. The full length of viral DNA was amplified by rolling circular amplification (RCA) followed by cloning and sequencing. We identified the viral DNA sequence as papaya leaf curl virus (PaLCuV: KX353619) and papaya leaf curl betasatellite (PaLCuB: KX353621). Analysis of complete viral DNA component revealed the highest similarity (93%) with Papaya leaf curl virus, while sequence data of betasatellite showed maximum (93%) identity with Papaya leaf curl betasatellite. To our knowledge, this is the first account of these two types of geminivirus DNA molecules harbouring together in C. roseus plants.