First report of natural infection of alternanthera yellow vein virus and cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite on a new host Picrorhiza kurroa, an important endangered medicinal herb

Picrorhiza kurroa is an ethnopharmacologically important endangered medicinal herb and is traditionally used in Indian Ayurvedic medicine in several preparations. The plant grows as a wild population at an altitude between 3200 and 4500 m. Leaf curl, yellow mosaic and leaf puckering symptoms were observed on P. kurroa grown in a greenhouse at CSIR-IHBT, Palampur, Himachal Pradesh, India. Based on typical symptoms and whitefly infestation, begomovirus infection was suspected. PCR based detection showed the presence of a begomovirus and a betasatellite in all symptomatic plants. The complete sequence analysis of begomovirus and betasatellite characterized their identity as alternanthera yellow vein virus (AlYVV) and cotton leaf curl Multan betasatellite (CLCuMuB), respectively. Further, in phylogeny, both begomovirus and betasatellite were clustered with their respective isolates. This is the first report of a begomovirus and a betasatellite infecting P. kurroa .