Abstract
Trees and herbs that produce fruits represent the most valuable agricultural food commodities in the world. However, the yield of these crops is not fully achieved due to biotic factors such as bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Viruses are capable of causing alterations in plant growth and development, thereby impacting the yield of their hosts significantly. In this work, we first compiled the world′s most comprehensive list of known edible fruits that fits our definition. Then, plant viruses infecting those trees and herbs that produce fruits with commercial importance in the global market were identified. The identified plant viruses belong to 30 families, most of them containing single-stranded RNA genomes. Importantly, we show the overall picture of the host range for some virus families following an evolutionary approach. Further, the current knowledge about plant-virus interactions, focusing on the main disorders they cause, as well as yield losses, is summarized. Additionally, since accurate diagnosis methods are of pivotal importance for viral diseases control, the current and emerging technologies for the detection of these plant pathogens are described. Finally, the most promising strategies employed to control viral diseases in the field are presented, focusing on solutions that are long-lasting.
Highlights
Since the appearance of agriculture, far earlier than previously thought, a few places around the world were sites of origin for the modern crops we see today [1,2,3]
Putting aside the shortage of fruits and, higher prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest challenge faced by fruit crops has always been the range of pathogens that can cause disease [22,23,24]
In the case of RNA viruses, RNA is first reverse transcribed into complementary DNA in a process known as reverse transcription (RT), followed by conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), involving the amplification of target nucleic acid sequences with primers [277]
Summary
Since the appearance of agriculture, far earlier than previously thought, a few places around the world were sites of origin for the modern crops we see today [1,2,3]. Of them have a documented use, from which ~5000 plant species are a source for human food [6,7,8,9]. In the case of fruit trees and herbs, edible fruits were harvested from the wild and constituted the earliest source of food for humans [10,11]. More than 2000 species are used as food in the tropics, but only a fraction of them have been domesticated, and a very tiny number are of significant commercial importance in the global market [12]. Putting aside the shortage of fruits and, higher prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the biggest challenge faced by fruit crops has always been the range of pathogens that can cause disease [22,23,24]. The situation is becoming worse because the human population is growing, soil fertility is declining, and global warming is changing the weather patterns [27,28,29,30]
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