Molecular Identification and Characterization of Alphasatellites Associated with Okra Enation Leaf Curl Virus

Symptomatic okra plants showing leaf curling, typical yellowing and thickening of veins were collected and characterized. Full genome of the virus was amplified using phi-29 polymerase exploiting rolling circle amplification (RCA) mechanism. The concatemer was digested with restriction enzyme and cloned in a vector for sequencing. Sequence analysis and nucleotide (ntd) comparison revealed that the viral genome is of 2,741 bp in length and showed the highest nucleotide identities of 91-99% with Okra enation leaf curl virus (OELCuV) which has spread in all okra growing region in India. The plants possessing OELCuV has also shown association of alphasatellites. Four out of six alphasatellites characterized showed nucleotide similarity with Sida yellow vein China alphasatellite which has been earlier reported from Nepal and China. Two alphasatellite molecule showed highest identity with Gossypium darwinii symptomless alphasatellite (GDarSLA) and Gossypium mustelinium symptomless alphasatellite (GMusSLA) each, respectively.