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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #394566
Research Project: Improved Winter Wheat Disease Resistance and Quality through Molecular Biology, Genetics, and Breeding

Location: Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research

Title: Plant viruses of agricultural importance: current and future perspectives of virus disease management strategies

Author
item Tatineni, Satyanarayana - Ts
item HEIN, GARY - University Of Nebraska

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/12/2022
Publication Date: 3/13/2023
Citation: Tatineni, S., Hein, G.L. 2023. Plant viruses of agricultural importance: current and future perspectives of virus disease management strategies. Phytopathology. 113(2):117-141. https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-05-22-0167-RVW.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/PHYTO-05-22-0167-RVW

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Plant viruses cause significant losses in agricultural crops worldwide, affecting the yield and quality of agricultural products. The emergence ofnovel viruses or variants through genetic evolution and spillover from reservoir host species, changes in agricultural practices, mixed infections withdisease synergism, and impacts from global warming pose continuous challenges for the management of epidemics resulting from emerging plantvirus diseases. This review describes some of the most devastating virus diseases plus select virus diseases with regional importance in agriculturallyimportant crops that have caused significant yield losses. The lack of curative measures for plant virus infections prompts the use of risk-reducingmeasures for managing plant virus diseases. These measures include exclusion, avoidance, and eradication techniques, along with vector managementpractices. The use of sensitive, high throughput, and user-friendly diagnostic methods is crucial for defining preventive and management strategiesagainst plant viruses. The advent of next-generation sequencing technologies has great potential for detecting unknown viruses in quarantine samples.The deployment of genetic resistance in crop plants is an effective and desirable method of managing virus diseases. Several dominant and recessiveresistance genes have been used to manage virus diseases in crops. Recently, RNA-based technologies such as dsRNA- and siRNA-based RNAinterference, microRNA, and CRISPR/Cas9 provide transgenic and nontransgenic approaches for developing virus-resistant crop plants. Importantly,the topical application of dsRNA, hairpin RNA, and artificial microRNA and trans-active siRNA molecules on plants has the potential to developGMO-free virus disease management methods. However, the long-term efficacy and acceptance of these new technologies, especially transgenicmethods, remain to be established.