viruses Review Badnaviruses: The Current Global Scenario Alangar Ishwara Bhat 1, Thomas Hohn 2,* and Ramasamy Selvarajan 3 1 ICAR-Indian Institute of Spices Research, Kozhikode 673012, Kerala, India;
[email protected] 2 UNIBAS, Botanical Institute, 4056 Basel, Switzerland 3 ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirapalli 620102, Tamil Nadu, India;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +41-61-701-7502 Academic Editor: Alexander Ploss Received: 9 March 2016; Accepted: 25 May 2016; Published: 22 June 2016 Abstract: Badnaviruses (Family: Caulimoviridae; Genus: Badnavirus) are non-enveloped bacilliform DNA viruses with a monopartite genome containing about 7.2 to 9.2 kb of dsDNA with three to seven open reading frames. They are transmitted by mealybugs and a few species by aphids in a semi-persistent manner. They are one of the most important plant virus groups and have emerged as serious pathogens affecting the cultivation of several horticultural crops in the tropics, especially banana, black pepper, cocoa, citrus, sugarcane, taro, and yam. Some badnaviruses are also known as endogenous viruses integrated into their host genomes and a few such endogenous viruses can be awakened, e.g., through abiotic stress, giving rise to infective episomal forms. The presence of endogenous badnaviruses poses a new challenge for the fool-proof diagnosis, taxonomy, and management of the diseases. The present review aims to highlight emerging disease problems, virus characteristics, transmission, and diagnosis of badnaviruses. Keywords: badnavirus; integration; endogenous badnavirus; detection; distribution; host range; transmission 1. Introduction Plant pararetroviruses (Family: Caulimoviridae) contain eight genera with two distinct virion morphologies: Caulimovirus (10 species), Soymovirus (one species), Solendovirus (two species), Cavemovirus (two species), Petuvirus (one species), and Rosadnavirus (one species) have isometric particles, whereas members of Badnavirus (32 species) and Tungrovirus (one species) have bacilliform ones.