Enhanced efficiency of virus eradication following thermotherapy of shoot-tip cultures of pear

Abstract

In this study, in vitro-cultured plants of Pyrus pyrifolia cv. Fengshui, widely grown in central and southern China, were treated at different temperatures, and the efficiency of virus eradication of regenerated plants was evaluated by ELISA and dot-blot hybridization. Results showed that treatment at a constant high temperature of 37°C influenced greatly on the growth of in vitro pear plants and significantly decreased the plant survival rate, though virus-free plants could be regenerated from a few survived plant tips. When the treatment was carried out at 32°C/night and 38°C/day, the survival rate and growth of pear plants could be significant improved, but no virus-free plants could be regenerated from shoot tips treated for 50 days. Based on these results, infected plants were heattreated at 42°C/day and 34°C/night. High virus eradication efficiency was achieved from treated cultures of pear for more than 55 days. Results also verified that ACLSV could be eliminated from pear by 5 days shorter treatment period than that for ASGV and ASPV eradication.

Virus elimination from in vitro apple by thermotherapy combined with chemotherapy

“…High temperatures inactivate the virus in the apical meristem; therefore, thermotherapy is a routine method for virus eradication. This method has been widely used to eliminate viruses from fruit trees and other vegetative plants (Valero et al 2003;Paprstein et al 2008;Tan et al 2010). Recent studies on the use of RNA silencing to suppress viruses indicated that there is a strong relationship between temperature and RNA silencing.…”

“…Heat treatments can reduce the movement of virus particles into the apical meristem through inhibiting viral RNA synthesis (Valero et al 2003;). Generally, a higher temperature over a longer period is most efficient for virus elimination (Dziedzic 2008;Tan et al 2010). However, prolonged heat treatments can have severe negative effects on the growth and survival of apple plants (Paprstein et al 2008).…”

Fast and Effective Thermotherapy Treatment for <i>In Vitro</i> Virus Eradication in Apple and Pear Trees

“…Some authors stated that alternating temperatures of 38˚C/32˚C day/night applied to shoots for 50 days produced low percentages of virus-free pear plants, while at higher temperatures of 42˚C and 34˚C, 100% of virus-free plants were obtained but only if applied for 60 days [11], a period too long for survival. On the other hand, the size of the isolated meristems after thermotherapy also plays a decisive role in survival and recovery once it is cultured again.…”

“…Although the success of virus eradication by thermotherapy will depend largely on the type of virus and plant species [10], the duration of treatment at high temperatures is directly associated with a decrease in the presence of viruses in the plant. Application of alternate night/day temperatures for a high number of days yielded low percentages of virus-free pear tree plants while higher temperatures improved the percentage of virus-free plants (up to 100 %) but only if they are extended for a longer period [11].…”

Blueberry red ringspot virus eliminated from highbush blueberry by shoot tip culture

“…Various methods can be exploited for virus elimination from plants, such as apical meristem cultures (Cheong et al 2012) often combined with thermotherapy (Tan et al 2010), cryotherapy (Wang & Valkonen 2008), or chemotherapy (Špak et al 2012. In view of the limited source of infected shoots, and to avoid loss of plant material, we decided to start with shoot tip culture and did not pursue thermotherapy or chemotherapy.…”