Begomovirus associated with alternative host weeds: a critical appraisal

Abstract

Weeds are widely distributed throughout the world and have high environmental adaptability. Weeds are considered as a source of new viruses and reservoirs of unidentified economically important viruses but are often neglected during diversity studies. Many scientific reports have demonstrated that weeds serve as reservoir or alternative hosts for begomovirus (family Geminiviridae) survival and spread in the absence of the main crops. Thus, there is a pressing need for additional information on the diversity and distribution of begomoviruses associated weeds, which likely serve as virus reservoirs. This review thus presents a tip of the iceberg of the diversity of begomoviruses associated weeds in India and other parts of the world.

Keywords:

• weed
• Geminiviridae
• begomovirus
• alternative hosts
• diversity

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge a vote of thanks to Department of Biotechnology (DBT Project No. BT/PR13129/GBD/27/197/2009) and Department of Science and Technology (DST Project No. SR/FT/LS-042/2009), India, for their financial support.