Research Article
Rubigilda Paraguison Alili&nbs
Abstract
To trace the possible route of the outset of the Tomato Leaf Curl Virus (ToLCV) in the Philippines, the phylogenetic relationships of ToLCV strains in the regions of epidemicity in the Philippines and other countries were investigated. The phylogenetic markers tagged as C1RAPG for ToLCV was specifically investigated to target the replication-associated protein of ToLCV was generated. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that the TolCV strains in the Philippines segregate into two groups: Members of group 1 that include Ilocos Norte, Southern Luzon, and from the islands of Visayas and Mindanao are related to China, Malaysia, and Italy. While group 2 formed a monophyletic cluster with strain isolates from South Korea, Africa, Israel, and the USA implicating that the samples involved in this study are related to the Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) ancestor of ToLCV from the strains of Israel.