Molecular identification of a new begomovirus associated with mosaic disease of Jatropha curcas L. in Nigeria.

We report the complete nucleotide sequence of DNA-A of a begomovirus naturally infecting Jatropha curcas L. in Nigeria. Symptoms observed on infected plants were severe mosaic, mottling and blistering of leaves. The virus, which we provisionally name "jatropha mosaic Nigeria virus" (JMNV), has a monopartite genome of 2,779 to 2,789 nucleotides. Pairwise comparisons of DNA-A sequences showed that JMNV had maximum nucleotide sequence identity (72%) with a strain of tomato yellow leaf curl virus. Since there are widespread infections of jatropha in Nigeria showing similar symptoms as those investigated in the present study, JMNV may represent a significant threat to a promising bioenergy crop.