New Findings in Plant Virology toward Guiding Rational Control Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Our opinions on “virus infection” and “quarantine” have certainly changed in the last month. It is perhaps not too much of an exaggeration to state that the emergence of the new coronavirus has resulted in an unprecedented effect on how people think about virology, virus evolution, and quarantine. In contrast to animal-infecting viruses, viruses hosted by plants have several alternative barriers to overcome. Their hosts cannot move over long distances and their cells are protected by an almost impermeable cell wall. Despite these barriers, we, as plant virologists, have also experienced an acceleration in the emergence and spread of new plant viruses due to globalization. Non-controlled markets for plants which are propagated in a vegetative way as well as the introduction of vector species into new places can lead to the movement of viruses both into new geographical places as well as into new hosts. Unfortunately, these unexpected ways in which viruses can spread have not yet been fully investigated and explored.

Molecular virus detection methods have been changing in the past decade. New methods, like high-throughput sequencing, allow us to reveal the presence of any living organism in the investigated sample. This is why records of new findings—new locations, new hosts, new vectors, and even the existence of new viruses and viroids—have also increased. Many of these findings originate from latent infections that have existed for a long time, where there has been a lack of symptoms and illness of the plant that coincides with the presence of the “new” virus.

Quarantine measures help us to protect our plants, home, and country from invading viruses, whose infections can have harmful effects. Regarding plant health, these measures include eradication of the infected plant together with a buffer zone where rigorous control is carried out. Since it is obligatory to ensure the safety of our crops and flora, control strategies must rely on firm knowledge about when and where a newly described virus deserves strict regulation.

For this Special Issue of Plants, I would like to collect reports on new and first descriptions of plant viruses and surveys in which possible new sites of virus entry are investigated, discussed, or reviewed. Papers describing the identification of plant viruses at new geographic locations, on new hosts, or including descriptions of new viruses which can be linked to already described diseases are also welcome.

To keep the message of this Special Issue concise, the discussion or conclusions of the paper should contain recommendations about possible control strategies of the investigated virus, crop, insect vector, or weed based on the new findings.

We hope that this collection can help decision makers to implement rational plant protection measures which can be observed as well as serve to prevent the spread of invading pathogens around the globe.

Dr. Éva Várallyay
Guest Editor

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• new descriptions of viruses
• virus
• HTS
• regulation
• vector
• weed