Genetic Diversity, Pathogenic Mechanisms and Control of Viruses in Agricultural and Ornamental Crops

A special issue of Agriculture (ISSN 2077-0472). This special issue belongs to the section "Crop Protection, Diseases, Pests and Weeds".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2023) | Viewed by 2937

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: viral diseases; plant–virus interaction; RNA interference; virus sanitation protocols; in vitro culture; grafting; plant biotechnology

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Guest Editor
CNR-IPSP-Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: plant-pathogen interaction; Xylella fastidiosa; plant biotechnology; pathogen detection; viral vectors

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Guest Editor
CNR-IPSP-Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, 70126 Bari, Italy
Interests: plant virology; plant-pathogen interaction; Xylella fastidiosa; biological control of bacterial pathogens; plant virus de novo discovery; high-throughput sequencing; plant virus genetic diversity

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Viruses are evolving quickly. Globalization and climate change are providing new opportunities for the emergence and the spread of viruses worldwide. In order to minimize their impact on ornamental plants, crops and food production, the molecular characterization of virus diversity might play an important role in the control of these pathogens. The screening and the early detection of infected plants have become crucial for a more reliable disease management, reducing virus transmission and production loss. Moreover, the understanding of plant virus evolution and epidemiology, as well as the study of the virus–host interaction mechanism, could open new prospective for a sustainable global environmental protection and biodiversity preservation. In this framework, taking advantage of modern high-throughput technologies, the screening of plants biodiversity for new resistance/susceptibility genes that might be incorporated/deleted into existing cultivars represents a promising approach for enhancing crop resistance and resilience to pathogen infections, including viruses.

This Special Issue of Agriculture focuses on the detection and identification of plant viruses, encouraging contributions on the study of virus–host interaction and the latest advancements in viral plant disease control. We look forward to receiving your manuscripts, hoping to provide the scientific community with an organic contribution on the many facets of plant virus research, promoting further investigations on this challenging subject.

Dr. Roberta Spanò
Dr. Giusy D'Attoma
Dr. Massimiliano Morelli
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • plant viruses
  • virus diversity
  • virus population genetics
  • plant–pathogen interaction
  • host resistance
  • virus detection
  • virus transmission
  • disease management
  • high-throughput omics
  • virus ecology

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

24 pages, 4612 KiB  
Article
Molecular Evidence for the Presence of Wisteria Vein Mosaic Virus in Italy: Shedding Light on Genetic Diversity and Evolutionary Dynamics of Virus Geographic Populations
by Giusy D’Attoma, Angelantonio Minafra, Pasquale Saldarelli and Massimiliano Morelli
Agriculture 2023, 13(5), 1090; https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture13051090 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2576
Abstract
Wisteria vein mosaic virus (WVMV) is a member of the genus Potyvirus, found to be associated with the Wisteria mosaic disease (WMD). In 2022, severe symptoms resembling WMD were observed on the foliage of a Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) tree [...] Read more.
Wisteria vein mosaic virus (WVMV) is a member of the genus Potyvirus, found to be associated with the Wisteria mosaic disease (WMD). In 2022, severe symptoms resembling WMD were observed on the foliage of a Chinese wisteria (Wisteria sinensis) tree growing in Apulia (Italy). The presence of WVMV was ascertained by RT-PCR using the universal degenerate primers NIb2F/NIb3R in the NIb gene. Next, we derived the complete sequence of the CP gene. MAFFT pairwise alignment of the two target regions showed a high amino acid sequence identity of isolate Bari with other WVMV isolates, confirming they belonged to the same species. NIb phylogenetic analysis placed WVMV Bari within the lineage identified in the genus Potyvirus as the bean common mosaic virus supergroup. Closer analysis based on the CP gene showed that WVMV Bari was part of a sub-clade gathering all WVMV isolates within a larger clade clustering closely related species. An exploratory analysis of the genetic diversity and possible mechanisms underlying the evolution of geographic populations of WVMV was attempted. The analysis was based on the N-terminal coding region of CP, available for 20 isolates from Europe, Asia, and Oceania. A high diversity, mainly found in the European population, led to the identification of 16 different haplotypes. Based on the dN/dS ratio, the target region appears to be under negative selective pressure. Neutrality tests indicated a potential population expansion in Europe and a recent decrease in Asia. The two populations exhibited a high level of gene flow. We found that WVMV Bari may have originated from a recombination event in the NIb gene. To date, the presence of WVMV had never been reported on W. sinensis in Italy, and no molecular information was available on any Italian isolate. Our report draws attention to the further spread of WVMV in the European territory and its rising threat to the ornamental nursery sector. Full article
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