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Eclipta prostrata (local name ‘daryai booti’; family Asteraceae) is a common weed around water courses throughout the Indian subcontinent. This plant frequently shows yellow vein symptoms, which are characteristic of some begomoviruses. Previously the association of a begomovirus (provisionally designated Eclipta prostrata yellow vein virus) with the disease has been reported, based on DNA hybridization studies (Haider et al., 2003b) and its transmissibility by the whitefly vector of begomoviruses, Bemisia tabaci (Haider et al., 2003a). In this report, this virus is shown to be a strain of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus (ToLCNDV). Apparently healthy leaf samples of E. prostrata and others with symptoms were collected from Lahore (Punjab University Campus). Total DNA was extracted from both types of sample. The presence of a begomovirus was confirmed by PCR amplification using a pair of degenerate primers designed to conserved regions of the coat-protein genes of published sequences of begomoviruses from the Old World (Haider, 1996; virion-sense primer 5′-ATG(C/A/T)(G/C)(G/C/A)AAGCG(A/T)(C/A)C(A/C)G(G/C)(A/C)GATAT-3′; complementary-sense primer 5′-TTAATT(T/G/C)(C/G/A)(A/T/C)(A/T/G)A(C/T)(A/T/C)(G/C)(C/A/T)(A/G)TCATA(G/A)AA(A/G)TA-3′). An amplification product of the expected size (c. 750 bp) was produced in PCR reactions containing DNA extracted from plants with symptoms, but not from those without symptoms. The PCR product was cloned and sequenced in both orientations. The sequence of the virus obtained from E. prostrata (EMBL accession no. AJ889185) showed the highest levels of sequence identity (98%) to ToLCNDV (EMBL accession no. U15015), indicating that the virus infecting this weed is a strain of ToLCNDV. Efforts are now under way to identify the second genomic component (DNA-B) and to produce full-length clones of the virus. This appears to be the first report of ToLCNDV infecting E. prostrata.
Haider et al. (Tue,) studied this question.