Abstract
During the last two decades, diseases caused by begomoviruses have resulted in important losses in horticultural crops throughout Mexico and the Sunbelt states of the U.S. Plant samples exhibiting typical begomoviral symptoms were collected from cultivated and weed species in the Yucatan Peninsula, with an emphasis on malvaceous genera. To establish provisional begomoviral identity and examine genetic diversity, amplification and DNA sequencing of the core CP and/or the DNA-A component were carried out. Nt sequences comparison for the core CP (533-536 bp) revealed a number of diverse viral species (<89% identity) and strains (>89% nt identity) among weedy and cultivated plants, some of which have not previously been described. Based on the full length DNA-A component, five new begomoviruses were identified from Boerhavia diffusa, Carica papaya, Euphorbia heterophylla, Herissantia crispa, Hibiscus sabdariffa, Malvastrum coromandelianum, Rhynchosia minima, and Sida acuta, for which provisional species names are proposed. Begomoviruses of E. heterophylla and R. minima were widely distributed in the Yucatan Peninsula. Phylogenetic analysis of core CP and DNA-A components, respectively, placed the Yucatan Peninsula begomoviruses in clades that are previously recognized for the Begomovirus genus.