CYTOGENETICS OF COTTON LEAF CURL VIRUS, ITS CAUSES, SYMPTOMS AND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES IN COTTON

Abstract

The production of Cotton "Gossypium hirsutum" is facing severe challenges in Pakistan, due to
many biotic and a-biotic factors. However still it is considered as a significant cash crop in the country.
While digging deep, the severe threat to cotton productivity in Pakistan is rooted in the "Cotton leaf curl
virus (CLCuV)." Such a virus belongs to the genus Begomovirus of the Geminiviridae family and whitefly
Bemisia tabaci is responsible for its transmission. CLCu, specific indications are veins swelling, curling
as well as enations formation under the leaf of an infected plant. By the emergence of a recombinant
strain derived from CLCuMuV and CLCuKoV named Cotton leaf curl Burewal virus (CLCuBuV), the
disease spread in epidemic form in-country during 2006-07 while breaking all the resistance previously
present in Gossypium hirsutum genotypes. The wild species such as "Gossypium anomalum, Gossypium
capitisviridis, Gossypium sticksii, Gossypium somalense, Gossypium longicalyx, Gossypium
gossypioides, Gossypium laxum and Gossypium areysianum" are a good source of resistance genes
against CLCuV and can be used in interspecific hybridization for gene transfer through conventional
breeding. Moreover, the use of advanced biotechnology tools such as marker-assisted selection and
transgenic approaches could help develop resistance against this disease.