Croton golden mosaic virus: a new bipartite begomovirus isolated from Croton hirtus in Colombia

A new begomovirus infecting Croton hirtus (Euphorbiaceae) from Colombia has been characterized. The complete DNA-A and DNA-B components were determined to be 2613 and 2551 nt in length, respectively, showing the typical genome organization of bipartite New World begomoviruses. DNA-A showed the highest nucleotide sequence identity (81.2%) to sida yellow mottle virus (JN411687), a begomovirus isolated from Sida rhombifolia in Cuba. Based on the current ICTV species demarcation criterion for the genus Begomovirus, we report a new member of this genus infecting C. hirtus. We propose that it be named Croton golden mosaic virus (CroGMV), based on the symptoms observed in the weed. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that CroGMV segregates into a single clade and has some relationship with viruses from Central America and the Caribbean. CroGMV is the first Croton-infecting bipartite begomovirus reported in the world.