title: Analysis of the sequence of a dicot-infecting mastrevirus (family Geminiviridae) originating from Syria.
abstract: Chickpea stunt disease (CSD) across southern Asia, the Middle East and North Africa is caused by a number of viruses that include single-stranded DNA viruses of the genus Mastrevirus (family Geminiviridae). Despite the importance of CSD in reducing chickpea and lentil production, until recently little was known of the nature of the pathogens causing the disease. Sequence characterisation of virus isolates from Sudan and Pakistan showed the viruses concerned to potentially be new mastrevirus species related to Bean yellow dwarf virus (BeYDV), a virus known to occur in both southern Africa and southern Asia. Here we have determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a mastrevirus associated with CSD in Syria. This virus represents a proposed new species, closely related to the recently characterised Chickpea chlorotic dwarf Sudan virus and Chickpea chlorotic dwarf Pakistan virus but with the highest sequence identity to BeYDV, for which we propose the name Chickpea chlorotic dwarf Syria virus. In addition the biological integrity of the clone was confirmed by infection of Nicotiana benthamiana plants using Agrobacterium-mediated inoculation.
authors.affiliation: Agricultural Biotechnology Division, National Institute for Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan.
authors.forename: Huma
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mumtaz
authors.forename: Safaa G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Kumari
authors.forename: Shahid
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mansoor
authors.forename: Darren P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Rob W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Briddon
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D029863:Cicer / Q000821:virology*; D017791:Geminiviridae / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D010935:Plant Diseases / Q000821:virology*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D013593:Syria