Traditional Approaches and Emerging Biotechnologies in Grapevine Virology

Abstract

Environmental changes and global warming may promote the emergence of unknown viruses, whose spread is favored by the trade in plant products. Viruses represent a major threat to viticulture and the wine industry. Their management is challenging and mostly relies on prophylactic measures that are intended to prevent the introduction of viruses into vineyards. Besides the use of virus-free planting material, the employment of agrochemicals is a major strategy to prevent the spread of insect vectors in vineyards. According to the goal of the European Green Deal, a 50% decrease in the use of agrochemicals is expected before 2030. Thus, the development of alternative strategies that allow the sustainable control of viral diseases in vineyards is strongly needed. Here, we present a set of innovative biotechnological tools that have been developed to induce virus resistance in plants. From transgenesis to the still-debated genome editing technologies and RNAi-based strategies, this review discusses numerous illustrative studies that highlight the effectiveness of these promising tools for the management of viral infections in grapevine. Finally, the development of viral vectors from grapevine viruses is described, revealing their positive and unconventional roles, from targets to tools, in emerging biotechnologies.

A NitroPure Nitrocellulose Membrane-Based Grapevine Virus Sampling Kit: Development and Deployment to Survey Japanese Vineyards and Nurseries

“…The survey methodologies often start with collecting grapevine tissues during the growing season or winter, followed by nucleic acid extraction and subsequent detection using either ELISA or molecular-based techniques such as PCR, RT-PCR, or real-time PCR [ 13 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ]. Due to the similarities of symptom development among different viruses and nutrient deficiencies (e.g., GLD, GRBD, and potassium deficiency are associated with red leaves), techniques such as ELISA, DNA-based, hyperspectral imaging, and mass spectrometry are used for accurate diagnostics [ 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 ]. The sampling process typically involves coordinating with growers for site visits, traveling to the vineyards, and collecting petioles from suspected grapevines, which are then placed in sealed containers or bags and stored on ice.…”

Variation in Viral Tolerance of 21 Grapevine Rootstocks

“…are susceptible to grapevine viruses [20]. Therefore, using virus-free planting materials is crucial for the establishment of new vineyards as a prophylactic measure [21,22]. However, infection is ultimately inevitable due to virus transmission by mealybugs and soft scales in the field [23]; thus, the rogueing and replacement of the infected grapevines with healthy materials would become the only effective but costly management strategy [24].…”

A Guide to Cannabis Virology: From the Virome Investigation to the Development of Viral Biotechnological Tools

“…Mitoviruses were previously detected only in fungi, but recently, it became possible to identify them from different public transcriptome datasets of different plants (e.g., hop, hemp, and sugar beet) [ 50 ]. For some of these, viral replication has been experimentally demonstrated excluding mitochondrial or nuclear genome endogenization events [ 51 ]. This has not yet been conducted for CasaMV1, whose genome has been reconstructed from transcriptomic data.…”

“…Several RNA or DNA phytoviruses were transformed into fully infectious cDNA clones and exploited as reverse genetics systems for the study of viral factors and host–pathogen interaction. Infectious cDNA clones can be easily modified and reproposed as vectors for the expression of heterologous proteins or to suppress host gene expression by inducing gene silencing (VIGS), aiming for the selective knock-down expression of endogenous genes in various plants [ 51 , 53 , 54 ].…”