Biography

My focus is on plant diseases caused by plant viruses, viroids and phytoplasma:
  • Diagnosis
  • Epidemilogy
  • Control

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Abstract

Rapid population growth poses a major challenge to global food security. Promoting sustainable agricultural production is necessary to ensure the global food security. Horticultural plants are a high-valued part in agricultural production. Virus and viroid diseases have long been a key factor limiting the horticultural production. Cultivation and distribution of pathogen-free plants is currently the most efficient practice for managing virus and viroid diseases, and their spread in the landscape. Cryotherapy-based methods are recently developed novel biotechnologies for the efficient production of pathogen-free plants. This review outlines updated information on the development and advances in cryotherapy-based methods for efficiently eradicating viruses and viroids in horticultural plants. Mechanisms underlining cryotherapy-based methods for improved pathogen eradication are discussed, and suggestions for further studies are proposed.

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Abstract

Although global raspberries production has grown in the past decade, it remains threatened by plant viruses. This study surveyed raspberry viruses and associated arthropods in the Czech Republic between 2021 and 2022 across five regions. A total of 257 plant and 151 arthropod samples were tested using RT-(q)PCR for 12 viruses listed in the EPPO Certification scheme, plus raspberry leaf blotch virus (RLBV) and a novel virus, tentatively named raspberry-associated virus A (RaVA). Raspberry bushy dwarf virus (RBDV) was most prevalent (51.8%), followed by black raspberry necrosis virus (BRNV, 42.0%) and raspberry leaf mottle virus (RLMV, 28.4%). Four viruses—arabis mosaic virus, apple mosaic virus, strawberry latent ringspot virus, raspberry ringspot virus—were not detected. RBDV was also identified in Sambucus nigra, a new host, while mixed RLBV and RaVA infection was found in wild Rubus occidentalis. RLBV was experimentally transmitted to Nicotiana occidentalis 37B in the presence of Phyllocoptes gracilis. Seven of 39 arthropod species carried viruses, but only two—Amphorophora rubi idaei and Aphis idaei—are known vectors. PCR amplicons from 92 isolates were sequenced, revealing high variability in several viruses. These findings offer new insights but highlight the need for continued monitoring and research.