Occurrence of a new recombinant begomovirus species infecting tomato in the A l‐ B atinah region of O man

Whitefly‐transmitted begomoviruses are the most important limiting factor for tomato cultivation in O man, particularly in the A l‐ B atinah region, the major agricultural area of the country. Commercial farms in the A l‐ B atinah region were surveyed during J anuary– M arch 2013. Samples of tomato showing leaf curl disease symptoms typical of begomoviruses were collected and analysed. Full‐length sequences of five clones were shown to have relatively low percentage identity values to known begomoviruses, with the highest (88·6%) to isolates of T omato leaf curl O man virus ( T o LCOMV ), a begomovirus previously reported in O man, indicating that these represent a newly identified species, for which the name T omato leaf curl B arka virus ( T o LCB r V ) is proposed. Four isolates of To LCB rV were found associated with Tomato leaf curl betasatellite ( T o LCB ). The five isolates of T o LCB rV characterized in this study were shown to be recombinants, with T o LCOMV as the major parent, and a fragment of C roton yellow vein virus ( C r YVV ) spanning the 3′ half of the replication‐associated protein. The significance of these findings is discussed.