A new monopartite begomovirus isolated from Hibiscus cannabinus L. in India.

Yellow vein mosaic disease of mesta is whitefly-transmitted and found in endemic form in different parts of India, causing great economic losses. Full-length DNA-A of a begomovirus infecting mesta was cloned and sequenced. The genome was homologous to the DNA-A of monopartite begomoviruses originating from the Old World, with six conserved open reading frames. The complete nucleotide sequence of the DNA-A molecule of the present isolate was 2728 nucleotides in length, having the highest sequence identity (83.5%) with an Indian begomovirus causing cotton leaf curl disease. It thus belongs to a novel geminivirus species, and the name Mesta yellow vein mosaic virus is proposed.