Analysis of Pospiviroidae infections in ornamental and crop plants
The AlPlanta Institute for Plant Research has successfully participated in the FAPAS Proficiency Test PL0102 (Laboratory 002) and has been recognized by the Federal Biological Research Center as a laboratory for viroid testing.
In recent years, Potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) has been occasionally detected in potato and tomato plants in several EU Member States. The cause of the occurrence could not be elucidated. In the spring of 2006, in the Netherlands, as part of ornamental plant (Solanaceae) monitoring, infection with PSTVd first of Solanum jasminoides and later also of Brugmansia spp. was detected. In no case, the infected plants displayed symptoms. On the basis of further monitoring results that were produced in summer/autumn 2006 in the Netherlands and other EU Member States (BE, DE, FR, SI), it became clear that PSTVd could also be widely spread in ornamental plant species in Germany. First tests from our institute have shown that apart from PSTVd infections, infections with Tomato apical stunt viroid (TASVd) frequently occurred (Verhoeven et al., 2008).
Monitoring of PSTVd, Tomato chlorotic dwarf viroid (TCDVd), TASVd, Chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), Citrus exocortis viroid (CEVd), Columnea latent viroid (CLVd), Mexican papita viroid (MPVd), Tomato planta macho viroid (TPMVd), Irisine viroid 1 (IrVd-1) and Pepper chat fruit viroid (PCFVd) are routinely carried out in our institute by means of RT-PCR. Tests for infections with other viroids can be carried out on request: