Functional characterization of coat protein and V2 involved in cell to cell movement of Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Dabawali

The functional attributes of coat protein (CP) and V2 of the monopartite begomovirus, Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus- Dabawali were analyzed in vitro and in vivo by their overexpression in E. coli, insect cells and transient expression in the plant system. Purified recombinant V2 and CP proteins were shown to interact with each other using ELISA and surface plasmon resonance. Confocal microscopy of Sf21 cells expressing V2 and CP proteins revealed that V2 localized to the cell periphery and CP to the nucleus. Deletion of the N terminal nuclear localization signal of CP restricted its distribution to the cytoplasm. GFP-V2 and YFP-CP transiently expressed in N. benthamiana plants by agroinfiltration substantiated the localization of V2 to the cell periphery and CP predominantly to the nucleus. Interestingly, upon coinfiltration, CP was found both in the nucleus and in the cytoplasm along with V2. These results suggest that the interaction of V2 and CP may have important implications in the cell to cell movement.

Genetic variability of begomoviruses associated with cotton leaf curl disease originating from India

Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) causing viruses belong to the Begomovirus genus of the family Geminiviridae. Most begomoviruses are bipartite with two molecules of circular single stranded DNA (A and B) encapsidated in icosahedral geminate particles. However, the begomoviruses associated with CLCuD have DNA-beta instead of DNA-B. In this communication we report the complete genomic sequence of DNA-A component of two CLCuD-causing begomoviruses, cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Dabawali (CLCuKV-Dab), tomato leaf curl Bangalore virus-Cotton [Fatehabad] (ToLCBV-Cotton [Fat]) and partial sequences of two other isolates cotton leaf curl Rajasthan virus-Bangalore (CLCuRV-Ban) and cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Ganganagar (CLCuKV-Gang). A phylogenetic analysis of these isolates along with other related begomoviruses showed that ToLCBV-Cotton [Fat] isolate was closest to the tomato leaf curl Bangalore virus-5 (ToLCBV-Ban5) where as CLCuKV-Dab isolate was close to the cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Faisalabad1 (CLCuKV-Fai1), cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-72b (CLCuKV-72b) and cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-806b (CLCuKV-806b) isolates from Pakistan. The phylogenetic analysis further showed that the ToLCBV-Cotton [Fat] and CLCuKV-Dab isolates along with CLCuKV-Fai1, CLCuKV-72b and CLCuKV-806b are closer to the ToLCBV, tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus (ToLCGV), tomato leaf curl Gujarat virus-Varanasi (ToLCGV-Var) and tomato leaf curl Sri Lanka virus (ToLCSLV) isolates, where as cotton leaf curl Alabad virus-804a (CLCuAV-804a), cotton leaf curl Multhan virus (CLCuMV) cluster with the isolates from cotton leaf curl Rajasthan virus (CLCuRV) and okra yellow vein mosaic virus (OYVMV). These results demonstrate the extensive variability observed in this group of viruses. The AC4 ORF is the least conserved among these viruses. In order to further asses the variability in the CLCuD-causing begomoviruses, the region showing minimum similarity in the DNA-A sequence was first determined by a comparison of segments of different lengths of the aligned sequences. The results indicated that region 2411-424 (771 nt) was the least conserved. A phylogenetic tree constructed using the sequences of all the CLCuD causing begomoviruses, corresponding to the least conserved region showed that they form two distinct clusters.