Understanding the molecular biology and ecology of plant-virus-vector relationships: towards sustainable, integrated virus management strategies

Abstract

Pathogens present one of the major constraints on production yields and with nearly 50% of all newly emerging diseases caused by viruses, stresses the importance for continuing development of integrated virus management (IVM) strategies. The 1) emergence (2016) of new recombinant geminivirus in cultivations of tomato bearing the Ty-1 resistance gene; 2) observation (2014) that mixed infections of TYLCV and CMV compromises Ty-1- mediated resistance against geminiviruses; 3) identification (unpublished) of TSWV isolates able to overcome Tsw resistance gene in pepper; 4) new Bemisia tabaci biotype (unpublished) establishing on pepper and able to more efficiently transmit certain geminiviruses; 5) new dichorhavirus species (2017) and isolates of citrus leprosis cilevirus C (2016) causing leprosis disease in Brazil; 6) reclassification of genus Brevipalpus into several new vector species (2015), are just a few examples that underscore the importance of continuing multidiscipline research efforts to study and unravel the molecular biology and ecology of plant-virus-vector relationships. This project aims to strengthen joint efforts of a Dutch-Brazilian virology research consortium to study a small set of very important plant viruses to the Dutch and/or Brazilian Agri-Food sector in different vegetable and fruit crops and transmitted by various arthropods. This project builds on an earlier NWO-CPNq supported project and expands towards the establishment of a larger collaborating research network that will not only speed up the implementation of newly gained knowledge into sustainable IVM approaches for the viruses under investigation but is likely to be of use to other virus pathosystems as well, and meantime presents an international research platform to maintain plant virology expertise needed for exchange and training plant virology students. (AU)