Momordica balsamina, a new natural host of begomovirus and its first report in India

Abstract

Momordica balsamina is a tendril-bearing annual vine native to Africa, having a wide spectrum of medicinal and nutritional values. In April 2018, a begomovirus disease complex was identified from naturally growing Momordica balsamina L. plants showing severe form of mosaic; blistering and leaf curl symptoms at Vegetable Farm of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, Punjab, India. The total DNA was extracted from the infected sample and subjected to polymerase chain reaction with begomovirus specific primer for DNA-A and DNA-B component. The associated virus was found to be bipartite in nature. The amplified product of 1280 bp and 1180 bp were ligated into pGEM-T vector, transformed, cloned and sent for sequencing. The DNA-A and DNA-B of infected sample shared highest per cent nucleotide identity with DNA-A and DNA-B sequence of Tomato leaf curl New Delhi virus. The phylogenetic and distance matrix analysis proved that the virus was closely related to begomovirus. To our knowledge, this is the first report of incidence of a begomovirus on Momordica balsamina in India.