Description

The book represents basic information about viral-caused and viral-like diseases in many weeds. Many scientific reports have demonstrated that weeds serve as a reservoir or alternative hosts for geminivirus genera (eg: Begomovirus) for survival and spread in the absence of main crops. This book represents a tip of the iceberg of the diversity of begomoviruses in weeds. The recognition that geminivirus strains are capable of rapidly diverging through multiple mechanisms, underscores the need for accurate molecularly based methods that permit detection and tracking of biologically significant variants. Molecular approaches must combine knowledge of biology, ecology and the ability to monitor both conserved sequences and specific sites, most likely to undergo alteration with phylogenetic predictions to facilitate accurate identification and tracking of begomovirus variants and to also recognise new or resurgent viruses. Establishing databases of baseline sequences for extant viruses will permit future comparisons in establishing and interpreting disease patterns and associated trends for vector populations. With the development of reliable computational recombination detection tools and an increasing number of available genome sequences, many studies have reported evidence of recombination in a wide range of virus genera. The book also focuses on the first geminivirus database (GVDB) that contains biotic, molecular and in silico information which will permit rapid and accurate