Plant Virus Research Research Articles

The State of the Art of Plant Virus Research in China

Plant viruses impose serious threats to agriculture in China and worldwide [...]

Modulation of Antioxidant Properties in Leaves of Betel Vine (Piper betel L.) Influenced by the Fungicide Blitox

The experiment was conducted using a Randomized Block Design with three replications at the Plant Virus Research Station, BCKV, Kalyani, in Boroj. On betel vines, Blitox was sprayed at both double the recommended field dose (dRFD) and the recommended field dose (RFD) (50 WP/ha @ 15gm ai/6 lit). The vines were sprayed five more times at 15-day intervals beginning when they were 11.08.15 days old. Before every spray, leaf samples were taken and subjected to a number of criteria for analysis. Based on statistical analysis, the anti-oxidative characteristics improved most significantly when Blitox was administered at twice the recommended field dose (dRFD) (Blitox 50WP/ha @ 30gm ai/6 lit). Higher levels of free and total phenols, together with enhanced activity of enzymes such polyphenol peroxidase (PPO), superoxide dismutase (SOD), and peroxidase (POD), were indicators of this. Furthermore, testing for ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and diphenyl picryl hydrazyl (DPPH) revealed increased activity levels in the dRFD therapy in comparison to the RFD and control groups. Overall, these results imply that the larger Blitox dosage strengthens the antioxidant characteristics of betel vine leaves, hence enhancing their health and resistance to fungus-related infections.

Initiation of Plant Virus Infections by Agroinfiltration of Infectious Viral cDNAs (icDNAs).

Agroinfiltration uses Agrobacterium to deliver T-DNA-based gene expression constructs into plants. This chapter focuses on the standard method, specifically from the perspective of plant virus research, and describes a protocol for the initiation of virus infections in plants via infiltration of Agrobacterium strains carrying infectious viral cDNAs (icDNAs). The method outlines the culture and preparation of Agrobacterium for infiltration, the infiltration procedure, optimization of the optical density of the Agrobacterium suspension, and sampling of infected plants post-agroinfiltration. The advantages of the agroinfiltration method compared to traditional mechanical inoculation using sap from infected plants are discussed. The protocol is applicable for different pathosystems, although case-specific optimization of infiltration parameters and sampling is recommended.

Charting the course of plant virology: innovations in diagnostics and beyond—reports from the DPG meeting

Plant viruses pose a significant threat to global agriculture, resulting in economic losses and threatening food security. High-throughput sequencing and molecular techniques are advancing our understanding of these viruses, allowing for their detection, characterization, and control. The 55th meeting of the DPG Working Group “Viruskrankheiten der Pflanzen” showcased these advancements, encouraging international collaboration and idea exchange to tackle plant virus challenges. The perspectives paper we present summarizes this conference’s findings, highlighting the potential of these technologies in revolutionizing plant virus research.

A comprehensive review and meta-analysis of recent advances in biotechnology for plant virus research and significant accomplishments in human health and the pharmaceutical industry

ABSTRACT Secondary metabolites made by plants and used through their metabolic routes are today’s most reliable and cost-effective way to make pharmaceuticals and improve health. The concept of genetic engineering is used for molecular pharming. As more people use plants as sources of nanotechnology systems, they are adding to this. These systems are made up of viruses-like particles (VLPs) and virus nanoparticles (VNPs). Due to their superior ability to be used as plant virus expression vectors, plant viruses are becoming more popular in pharmaceuticals. This has opened the door for them to be used in research, such as the production of medicinal peptides, antibodies, and other heterologous protein complexes. This is because biotechnological approaches have been linked with new bioinformatics tools. Because of the rise of high-throughput sequencing (HTS) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques, it has become easier to use metagenomic studies to look for plant virus genomes that could be used in pharmaceutical research. A look at how bioinformatics can be used in pharmaceutical research is also covered in this article. It also talks about plant viruses and how new biotechnological tools and procedures have made progress in the field.

Nanopore sequencing technology and its application in plant virus diagnostics.

Plant viruses threaten crop yield and quality; thus, efficient and accurate pathogen diagnostics are critical for crop disease management and control. Recent advances in sequencing technology have revolutionized plant virus research. Metagenomics sequencing technology, represented by next-generation sequencing (NGS), has greatly enhanced the development of virus diagnostics research because of its high sensitivity, high throughput and non-sequence dependence. However, NGS-based virus identification protocols are limited by their high cost, labor intensiveness, and bulky equipment. In recent years, Oxford Nanopore Technologies and advances in third-generation sequencing technology have enabled direct, real-time sequencing of long DNA or RNA reads. Oxford Nanopore Technologies exhibit versatility in plant virus detection through their portable sequencers and flexible data analyses, thus are wildly used in plant virus surveillance, identification of new viruses, viral genome assembly, and evolution research. In this review, we discuss the applications of nanopore sequencing in plant virus diagnostics, as well as their limitations.

A Primer on the Analysis of High-Throughput Sequencing Data for Detection of Plant Viruses.

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies have become indispensable tools assisting plant virus diagnostics and research thanks to their ability to detect any plant virus in a sample without prior knowledge. As HTS technologies are heavily relying on bioinformatics analysis of the huge amount of generated sequences, it is of utmost importance that researchers can rely on efficient and reliable bioinformatic tools and can understand the principles, advantages, and disadvantages of the tools used. Here, we present a critical overview of the steps involved in HTS as employed for plant virus detection and virome characterization. We start from sample preparation and nucleic acid extraction as appropriate to the chosen HTS strategy, which is followed by basic data analysis requirements, an extensive overview of the in-depth data processing options, and taxonomic classification of viral sequences detected. By presenting the bioinformatic tools and a detailed overview of the consecutive steps that can be used to implement a well-structured HTS data analysis in an easy and accessible way, this paper is targeted at both beginners and expert scientists engaging in HTS plant virome projects.

Next generation sequencing (NGS) as a multipurpose method for detection and differentiation of plant viruses

This paper describes the application of next generation sequencing (NGS) in plant virus research. Although NGS has not been routinely used yet, it is increasingly adopted in diagnostics and genomics of phytopathogens. NGS technics enable the simultaneous detection of multiple viruses present in infected material. This makes it possible not only to determine which viruses are present in a single sample but also to determine their concentration and genetic diversity. The simultaneous identification of many viruses, the possibility of early detection of disease outbreaks as well as tracking and monitoring of epidemic development, make NGS a universal research tool that enables not only the detection but also the understanding of molecular mechanisms allowing viruses to adapt to environmental changes (host plant genotype, vector, presence of other pathogens).

The Epidemiology of Plant Virus Disease: Towards a New Synthesis.

Epidemiology is the science of how disease develops in populations, with applications in human, animal and plant diseases. For plant diseases, epidemiology has developed as a quantitative science with the aims of describing, understanding and predicting epidemics, and intervening to mitigate their consequences in plant populations. Although the central focus of epidemiology is at the population level, it is often necessary to recognise the system hierarchies present by scaling down to the individual plant/cellular level and scaling up to the community/landscape level. This is particularly important for diseases caused by plant viruses, which in most cases are transmitted by arthropod vectors. This leads to range of virus-plant, virus-vector and vector-plant interactions giving a distinctive character to plant virus epidemiology (whilst recognising that some fungal, oomycete and bacterial pathogens are also vector-borne). These interactions have epidemiological, ecological and evolutionary consequences with implications for agronomic practices, pest and disease management, host resistance deployment, and the health of wild plant communities. Over the last two decades, there have been attempts to bring together these differing standpoints into a new synthesis, although this is more apparent for evolutionary and ecological approaches, perhaps reflecting the greater emphasis on shorter often annual time scales in epidemiological studies. It is argued here that incorporating an epidemiological perspective, specifically quantitative, into this developing synthesis will lead to new directions in plant virus research and disease management. This synthesis can serve to further consolidate and transform epidemiology as a key element in plant virus research.

Insect cell culture as a tool in plant virus research: a historical overview

Culturing insect cells in vitro has witnessed remarkable growth in the past decades. Over 600 cell lines of dipteran, hemipteran, and lepidopteran insects have been reported so far. Besides its wide adoption for the production of recombinant proteins, viral pesticides, and vaccines, insect cell culture is increasingly being used as a tool for basic research in genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry, and virology. Since its first application in plant virus studies in 1956, insect cell culture has become an indispensable tool to study the complex and intimate interactions of plant viruses and their insect vectors. The in vitro cell cultures of several insect vectors of plant viruses including leafhoppers, planthoppers, aphids, thrips, and whiteflies have been successfully employed to understand the functions of viral proteins and receptor-mediated endocytosis into vector cells. This review summarizes the development of novel media and insect cell culture systems and their applications in plant virus research.

Importance of plant virus research - a brief revisit

In this paper, we wish to comment on a recent essay on virus research that was published in The Economist (August 20, 2020). The essay is so well-written and informative that it serves as an excellent example of popularizing science to make it accessible to all segments of an inquiring society. Still, we would like to point out that the paper failed to cover one important area of virus research: the fundamental discoveries achieved by studies of the viruses of higher plants.

Transfection of Protoplasts Prepared from Arabidopsis thaliana Leaves for Plant Virus Research.

Plant viruses use numerous host factors for efficient replication of the viral genome. Protoplasts, plant cells from which cell walls are removed, are the useful system to analyze the virus translation and replication in vivo. Here, we report a protocol for preparation of protoplasts from Arabidopsis thaliana leaves and transfection of plasmids to the protoplasts. Protoplasts isolated from the loss-of-function mutant of viral host factor(s) would be helpful to analyze the function of host factors in virus infection cycles.

High-Throughput Sequencing Facilitates Characterization of a "Forgotten" Plant Virus: The Case of a Henbane Mosaic Virus Infecting Tomato.

High-throughput sequencing has dramatically broadened the possibilities for plant virus research and diagnostics, enabling discovery of new or obscure viruses, and virus strains and rapid sequencing of their genomes. In this research, we employed high-throughput sequencing to discover a new virus infecting tomato, Henbane mosaic virus (Potyvirus, Potyviridae), which was first discovered at the beginning of 20th century in the United Kingdom in cultivated henbane. A field tomato plant with severe necrotic symptoms of unknown etiology was sampled in Slovenia and high-throughput sequencing analysis using small RNA and ribosomal RNA depleted total RNA approaches revealed a mixed infection with Potato virus M (Carlavirus, Betaflexiviridae), Southern tomato virus (Amalgavirus, Amalgamaviridae) and henbane mosaic virus in the sample. The complete genomic sequence of henbane mosaic virus was assembled from the sequencing reads. By re-inoculation of the infected material on selected test plants, henbane mosaic virus was isolated and a host range analysis was performed, demonstrating the virus was pathogenic on several plant species. Due to limited metadata in public repositories, the taxonomic identification of the virus isolate was initially putative. Thus, in the next step, we used small RNA sequencing to determine genomic sequences of four historic isolates of the virus, obtained from different virus collections. Phylogenetic analyses performed using this new sequence information enabled us to taxonomically position Henbane mosaic virus as a member of the Potyvirus genus within the chili veinal mottle virus phylogenetic cluster and define the relationship of the new tomato isolate with the historic ones, indicating the existence of at least four putative strains of the virus. The first detection of henbane mosaic virus in tomato and demonstration of its pathogenicity on this host is important for plant protection and commercial tomato production. Since the virus was initially present in a mixed infection, and its whole genome was not sequenced, it has probably been overlooked in routine diagnostics. This study confirms the applicability of a combination of high-throughput sequencing and classic plant virus characterization methods for identification and phylogenetic classification of obscure viruses and historical viral isolates, for which no or limited genome sequence data is available.

Biosecurity implications of new technology and discovery in plant virus research.

Human activity is causing new encounters between viruses and plants. Anthropogenic interventions include changing land use, decreasing biodiversity, trade, the introduction of new plant and vector species to native landscapes, and changing atmospheric and climatic conditions. The discovery of thousands of new viruses, especially those associated with healthy-appearing native plants, is shifting the paradigm for their role within the ecosystem from foe to friend. The cost of new plant virus incursions can be high and result in the loss of trade and/or production for short or extended periods. We present and justify three recommendations for plant biosecurity to improve communication about plant viruses, assist with the identification of viruses and their impacts, and protect the high economic, social, environmental, and cultural value of our respective nations' unique flora: 1) As part of the burden of proof, countries and jurisdictions should identify what pests already exist in, and which pests pose a risk to, their native flora; 2) Plant virus sequences not associated with a recognized virus infection are designated as “uncultured virus” and tentatively named using the host plant species of greatest known prevalence, the word “virus,” a general location identifier, and a serial number; and 3) Invest in basic research to determine the ecology of known and new viruses with existing and potential new plant hosts and vectors and develop host-virus pathogenicity prediction tools. These recommendations have implications for researchers, risk analysts, biosecurity authorities, and policy makers at both a national and an international level.

Satry KS and Sai Gopal DVR (Eds) Compendium of Plant Viruses, Phytoplasma and Viroid Diseases Research in India (1903–2008)

The compendium has been dedicated to Late Prof. M. V. Nayudu, the founder professor, Department of Virology, S.V. University, Tirupati and released by Prof. Karl Maramorosch on 23rd March 2010 at the National Virology Conference of Indian Virological Society held at SV University, Tirupati. The book covers last 105 years of research work published on plant viruses, phytoplasma and viroid from India. The book included glimpses of plant virus research in India that contained a historical description of development of plant virus research in India highlighting contributions from the very first generation of virologists to the current generation. An alphabetical list of plant diseases caused by viruses, phytoplasma and viroids recorded in India has been included. A total of 8652 research titles on various aspects of Plant Virology published in the national and international journals have been listed in alphabetic order of authors. To locate specific report in the compendium, host-pathogen Index and author Index have been provided. The book is a valuable resource of literature on the Indian work in the field of Plant Virology. Many of the published Indian works are not available through internet. Therefore, the compendium is highly useful to the students, researchers, scientists, in the field of plant virus research in particular and agriculture in general.

Contributions of plant virus research to the biological sciences

Contributions of plant virus research to the biological sciences

A history of plant virology

This review traces developments in plant virus research from its very beginning in the eighties of the 19th century until the present day. Starting with the earliest research, which gave a clue as to the existence of a pathogen different from the then known bacteria and fungi, the subsequent topics in plant virus research are highlighted, including the spread of plant viruses in nature and their relationships with possible vectors. In the course of more than a century, macroscopical and (sub)microscopical studies gave way to those with a molecular dimension, thanks to the development of sophisticated molecular-biological techniques and information technology. As a result an insight has been gained into both the molecular characteristics of plant viruses and various resistance mechanisms in plants.

植物ウイルス研究の生物科学への貢献

植物ウイルス研究の生物科学への貢献

Fifty years of plant virus research at the agricultural research organization in Israel — A personal perspective

A transition from dry farming to irrigated crops occurred in the mid 1950s in Israeli agriculture. This was due to the development of major irrigation schemes and the establishment of numerous small-holder farms, but was accompanied by outbreaks of virus diseases in vegetable and ornamental crops. These viral epidemics led to an intensification of the research efforts in plant virology. The major research fields and achievements are described and prospects for the future are outlined.

Identification and functional analysis of the turnip yellow mosaic tymovirus subgenomic promoter.

Most plant viruses rely on the production of subgenomic RNAs (sgRNAs) for the expression of their genes and survival in the plant. Although this is a widely adopted strategy among viruses, the mechanism(s) whereby sgRNA production occurs remains poorly defined. Turnip yellow mosaic tymovirus (TYMV) is a positive-stranded RNA virus that produces an sgRNA for the expression of its coat protein. Here we report that the subgenomic promoter sequence of TYMV is located on a 494-nucleotide fragment, containing previously identified highly conserved sequence elements, which are shown here to be essential for promoter function. After duplication, the subgenomic promoter can be inserted into the coat protein open reading frame, giving rise to the in vivo production of a second sgRNA. It is suggested that this promoter can function when contained on a different molecule than viral genomic RNA. This interesting trait may be of general use for plant and plant virus research.