Yellow mosaic disease of many legumes in India and other South Asian countries is transmitted by geminiviruses belonging to the family Geminiviridae and genus Begomovirus.

[citation needed] Yellow mosaic disease of many legumes is often transmitted by silverfly (Bemisia tabaci).

The family geminiviridae have been classified into four genera, namely Begomovirus, Curtovirus, Topocuvirus and Mastrevirus, depending on their genomes, mode of transmission and host range.

The genus begomoviridae generally comprises bipartite (two components, namely DNA- ‘A’ and ‘B’) genome, which replicates via rolling circle (RCR) model with the help of few viral and several host factors.

Both components share a common region (CR) of about 200 bp containing the important cis-elements for viral DNA transcription and rolling circle replication (RCR).