Cotton leaf curl disease (CLCuD) outbreaks caused by CLCuD associated begomoviruses (CABs) significantly constrain cotton production in India and Pakistan. In comparison to the CABs circulating in Pakistan, molecular epidemiology, evolution and recombination patterns of CABs circulating in India are less studied. In this work, we characterized CAB complex sequences obtained from the most recent outbreak (Punjab, India, 2015), and rigorously analyzed them with reference to GenBank sequences, submitted from India, Pakistan and other neighbouring countries, using contemporary bioinformatics approaches. In this manuscript, we illustrate the detection of a recombinant, phylogenetically distinct clade of Cotton leaf curl Multan virus (CLCuMuV), suggesting rebound of CLCuMuV in this region. Interestingly, we could not detect Cotton leaf curl Kokhran virus-Burewala strain (CLCuKoV-Bu), which was prevalent in this region, until now. Our study thus indicates substitution of the ‘virulent resistance breaking’ CLCuKoV-Bu by the re-emerging CLCuMuV recombinants. Our findings corroborate with that of a very recent study from Pakistan and we here discuss epidemiological links between the CAB complexes reported in these two studies. Taken together, these observations signify a shifting epidemiology of CABs, and seem to correlate with the recent prediction of the ‘third epidemic’ of CLCuD in the Indian subcontinent.

No abstract

a b s t r a c tBackground: Vector monitoring in military stations would help in protecting the armed forces from vector borne diseases such as malaria, Japanese encephalitis and filariasis.Methods: Adult mosquitoes were collected from four villages around a military station in India using light traps and the species composition was estimated. Insecticide susceptibility of disease vectors against DDT, deltamethrin and permethrin was established using WHO kits.Results: The known malaria vectors constituted 4.9% of the total mosquito collections and Anopheles philippinensis/nivipes (2.05%) was the most abundant. Japanese encephalitis and dengue vectors constituted 25.3 and 0.05% whereas the known vectors of both Japanese encephalitis and filariasis formed 50.9%. The mean (AESE mean ) of annual parasitic index, slide positivity and Plasmodium falciparum percentage among the civilian population during the study period were 1.46 AE 0.37, 1.65 AE 0.77 and 50.2 AE 10.7. The filariasis vector Culex quinquefasciatus was resistant to DDT with 65.4% mortality whereas the DDT resistance in the Japanese encephalitis vector Culex vishnui gr. with 91.9% mortality needs to be confirmed. All other species tested were susceptible to DDT, deltamethrin and permethrin.