Unraveling the devastating impact of Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus (ToLCNDV): understanding its characteristics, host range, and management strategies

Due to their stagnation, plants are frequently exposed to a variety of stresses, including both abiotic and biotic factors. Biotic stress in plants is due to many microbes that include viruses, fungi, bacteria, and parasitic organisms as plant pathogens. Plant viruses are one of those pathogens that frequently evolve and lower global agricultural productivity. Geminiviruses are the most damaging type of plant viruses. Tomato Leaf Curl New Delhi Virus (ToLCNDV) is a begomovirus belonging to the family Geminiviridae. This is a ssDNA virus having a bipartite genome with genomic length ranging between 2.6-2.7 kb. This virus was originally discovered in India in 1995 from tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum). It mostly infects solanaceous and cucurbitaceous crops and is a whitefly-transmitted, circulative and persistent virus. Its prominent symptoms are severe upward leaf curling, enations, stunting, puckering, yellow spots and yellow mosaic. This virus has devastating effects on the yield of different crops with yield losses ranging between 17.6-99.4 % depending upon the disease-causing factors. ToLCNDV-ES and ToLCNDV-OM are the most devastating strains of this virus. This comprehensive review will provide basic information on the characteristic features of ToLCNDV. The evolutionary mechanism of this virus is studied to know about the strain’s evolution with the passage of time on different host plants cultivated in several regions of the world. This review also covers the genome characteristics, geographical distribution, host range, transmission methods, genetic diversity, different molecular & serological assays, yield losses, and the management of this virus.