Whole transcriptome sequencing of diseased elephant foot yam reveals complete genome sequence of Dasheen mosaic virus

Dasheen mosaic virus (DsMV) the main causative agent of mosaic disease in elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) belongs to Potyviridae. The complete genome sequence of DsMV infecting A. paeoniifolius in Kerala state, India was assembled from the whole transcriptome sequencing reads of diseased host samples. The sequence of the virus which showed 83% identity with DsMV infecting Zantedeschia aethiopica (China) was confirmed through amplification and sequencing with primers designed based on the assembled sequence. Unambiguous recombination events mainly confined to the 5′ terminal 4000 nucleotides of the genome with phylogenetically related potyviruses were recognized. The length and genome composition towards the 3′ end comprising NIb, CP and 3′ UTR were not dependent on the host or the source region.