About the Book

Begomoviruses are one of the most interesting plant viruses to study for basic and applied research as they cause huge economic losses to agriculture industries and farmers all over the world. They belong to family Geminiviridae and are emergent plant viral pathogens which cause diseases in various crops in the tropical and subtropical regions. They are transmitted by the whitefly (B. tabaci) and have either one (monopartite DNA-A) or two (bipartite DNA-A and DNA-B) genomic components. DNA-A and DNA-B are of 2600 - 2800 nucleotides each. A number of serious diseases of cultivated crops of the Fabaceae, Malvaceae, Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae families are caused by Begomoviruses which are considered as threat to their cultivation in many countries.
Accurate diagnosis is important for successful diseases management, since plants infected by Begomovirus do not recover, suffer serious yield losses and act as further sources of inoculum, which is then picked up and spread by their vector whitefly (B. tabaci). Reports of occurrence of new viruses and re-emergence of several known viruses in new niches have become regular event. In such a dynamic system, growth of several crop species relies on an accurate diagnosis, management and better understanding of the biology of the casual virus. This is crucial to evolve appropriate control practices and to prevent the virus infection. Researchers have achieved considerable progress in characterization, detection and management of virus on different crop species in the last decade.
This book covers latest information in diagnosis of begomoviruses in the present scenario and explores the new vistas in the field of genomics and proteomics. Chapters in Section 1 illustrates the occurrence, genome organisation, transmission and diagnostics of begomoviruses. It also details the diseases caused by begomoviruses on different crops, detection techniques and management strategies in support of research findings by presentation of data, graphics, figures and tables. Section 2 is a chapterwise collection of occurrence, diversity and status of begomoviruses in Asian Africa counties where the diseases are most prevalent. This book will provide wide opportunity to the readers to have complete information and status of begomovirus in Asia and Africa. This will be useful resource for researchers and extension workers involved in the begomvirus disease diagnosis and molecular biology.

Expert detection, accurate diagnosis and timely management play a significant role in keeping plants free from pathogens. In this book expert researchers share their research knowledge and literature which are vital towards the diagnosis of begomoviruses, addressing traditional plant pathology techniques as well as advanced molecular diagnostic approach. The book deals with the economically important crops including fruits, vegetables along with challenges in crop protection against diseases caused by begomovirus. This will be resourceful and handy for researcher, practitioners and also students.

About the Author:

Dr. Sangeeta Saxena was born on March 15, 1968 in Dehradoon, a city in the foothills of Himalayas, India. She did her B.Sc. (Botany Hons ), M.Sc. (Microbiology), M.Phil (Biotechnology) and Ph.D. from Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh, India. Her Ph.D. was carried out at Plant Virology Lab, National Botanical Research Institute, (CSIR) Lucknow, after being awarded CSIR-UGC JRF NET fellowship from Govt. of India. She obtained her Ph.D. degree entitled "Development of diagnostics against some important papaya viruses" in 1998. Her Ph.D. work led to first time identification of the causal organism causing leaf curl disease in India to be a begomovirus. Further she was awarded Post Doctoral Fellowship from Swedish Council for Scientific Research and Natural Sciences ( NFR) and worked at Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Umea S- 901 83, Sweden during Dec. 1998 - Dec. 2000. She was awarded DST Young Scientist under SERB Fast Track Proposal for Young Scientis

ts scheme from Dept. of Science & Technology, Government of India (from 2002- 2005). She joined Department of Biotechnology Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University (A Central University) Lucknow India in 2005 and is currently working there as an Associate Professor. Her area of research is Molecular Virology, RNAi in general and begomoviruses causing papaya leaf curl disease in particular. She has carried out four independent research projects in the area of plant virology, diagnostics and RNAi from various funding agencies like CST-UP, UGC, DBT and DST, Govt. of India. She has published more than 40 research and review articles in national and international journals and has authored four book chapters in edited books. Dr. Saxena is widely travelled and has visited countries Sweden, USA, France, Finland and China to attend several workshops and conferences. Currently, Dr. Saxena is studying various aspects related to intra and interkingdom gene regulation by plant miRNAs apart from her main research interest to develop virus resistant plants against begomoviruses.

Dr Ajay K Tiwari is working as a Scientific Officer at UP Council of Sugarcane Research, Shahjahnapur, UP, India. He did his PhD in 2011 on Cucurbit viruses in the Biotechnology department of CCS University, Meerut, UP, India. Dr. Tiwari is a regular member of the British Society of Plant Pathology, Indian Phytopathological Society, Sugarcane Technologists Association of India, International Society of Sugarcane Technologists, Society of Sugarcane Research and Promotion, Prof H S Srivastava foundation, and Society of Plant Research. He has published 70 research articles and 12 review articles in national and international journals. He has also published 6 book chapters in edited books and has also authored 7 edited books. He has submitted more than 150 nucleotide sequences of plant pathogens in Genbank to his credit.

He is a regular reviewer and member of the editorial board

for many international journals. He has been awarded the Young Researcher award in Italy 2011, the Young Scientist award by DST-SERB and was nominated for the Narshiman Award by the Indian Phytopathological Society. Very recently he was awarded the Young Scientist Award by the Chief Minister of the State Government of UP for his outstanding contribution in the area of plant pathology. Dr Tiwari is the recipient of many international travel awards given by DST, DBT, CSIR from India, PATHOLUX from Luxembourg and IOM from Brazil. He has visited China, Italy, Germany, Thailand for conferences and workshops. He has been involved in research on molecular characterization and management of agricultural plant pathogens for the last 9 years. Currently he is working on molecular characterization of sugarcane phytoplasma and their secondary spread in nature.