Agroinoculation Shows Tobacco leaf curl Yunnan virus is a Monopartite Begomovirus

We demonstrated that only 2 out of 15 isolates of Tobacco leaf curl Yunnan virus (TbLCYNV) were associated with the satellite DNAβ molecules. To investigate the infectivity of this virus, an infectious clone of TbLCYNV isolate Y143 (TbLCYNV-Y143) was agroinoculated or whitefly transmitted into Nicotiana benthamiana, N. glutinasa, Petunia hybrida and N. tabacum. TbLCYNV-Y143 alone was able to induce severe upward leaf curling, vein thickening or stunt symptoms in these plants. Co-inoculation of TbLCYNV-Y143 with DNAβ molecules associated with other begomoviruses induced similar symptom types on these plants. This indicates that TbLCYNV is a monopartite begomovirus. The relevance of results that only two isolates of TbLCYNV were associated with DNAβ molecules is discussed.