Oral: Disease Management in the Genomics Era
65-S
Application of metagenomics for virus disease management in perennial crops: A Case Study of Grapevine red blotch disease in North America.
M. SUDARSHANA (1) (1) USDA ARS, Davis, CA, U.S.A.
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Genomics in plant virology began with deciphering the genome of Tobacco mosaic virus in 1982. Since then, functional genomics of virus-encoded proteins has been examined beginning with the demonstration of coat protein-mediated resistance in transgenic plants and infectious clones of plant viruses. While close to 1,200 plant viruses have been recognized as of 2014, new viruses continue to be added to this list largely by metagenomic analysis of the RNA pool in symptomatic plants by deep sequencing. Primarily, double-stranded RNA, small RNA and total RNA fractions have been used to make cDNA libraries to find new viruses and/or variants of known plant viruses. This is especially important in understanding the etiology of diseases suspected to be caused by viruses and also to recognize latent virus infections in perennial crop plants such as grapevines, fruit and nut trees. The discovery of Grapevine red blotch-associated virus and recognition of grapevine red blotch as a disease of importance in wine grape production in North America illustrates the power of metagenomics in the diagnosis and management of diseases caused by viruses.