Managing the deluge of newly discovered plant viruses and viroids: an optimized scientific and regulatory framework for their characterization and risk analysis

The advances in high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies and bioinformatic tools have provided new opportunities for virus and viroid discovery and diagnostics. Hence, new sequences of viral origin are being discovered and published at a previously unseen rate. Therefore, a collective effort was undertaken to write and propose a framework for prioritizing the biological characterization steps needed after discovering a new plant virus to evaluate its impact at different levels. Even though the proposed approach was widely used, a revision of these guidelines was prepared to consider virus discovery and characterization trends and integrate novel approaches and tools recently published or under development. This updated framework is more adapted to the current rate of virus discovery and provides an improved prioritization for filling knowledge and data gaps. It consists of four distinct steps adapted to include a multi-stakeholder feedback loop. Key improvements include better prioritization and organization of the various steps, earlier data sharing among researchers and involved stakeholders, public database screening, and exploitation of genomic information to predict biological properties

Identification of wood Rot fungi in the historic Baker Memorial Hall at the University of the Philippines, Los Baños Campus

Deterioration in heritage wood structures caused by wood-decay fungi is a worldwide concern. In the University of the Philippines Los Baños, decay fungi from wooden canopies of the Baker Memorial Hall were identified and its degrading ability was evaluated. Specimen collection was conducted on degraded canopies made of Mayapis (Shorea palosapis) with signs of white or green fungal growth. Fungi associated with the rotting symptoms were isolated, purified, characterized and identified. Colonies of fungal isolates were fast-growing in malt extract agar (MEA), with colony diameter reaching 5.60 % 0.43 cm (WRF8) and 5.15 % 0.25 cm (WRF5) after a day. Mycelia of isolates were hyaline and rhizoidal on water agar. Isolate WRF5 produced green, raised colonies that imparted yellow pigmentation on potato dextrose agar (PDA) and MEA. Generally, colonies were raised, radially striated with green center and white margin on PDA. Average length and width of WRF5 conidia were 3.19 % 0.33 %m and 2.73 % 0.36 %m, respectively. Cross-referencing morphological and cultural data with related literatures and identification keys indicated the isolated fungi were Trichoderma viride (WRF1), T. crassum (WRF3), T. reesei (WRF5), Rhizopus sp. (WRF8) and Coniophora sp. Furthermore, inoculation of 108 T. reesei conidia/mL on clean Mayapis wood blocks resulted to profuse fungal growth, with average weight loss recorded at 8.81 % 0.79% at 8 wks and 10.53 % 0.88% at 14 wks which indicated a considerable but slow wood degradation

Biological and Genetic Characterization of Physostegia Chlorotic Mottle Virus in Europe Based on Host Range, Location, and Time.

peer reviewedApplication of high throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies enabled the first identification of Physostegia chlorotic mottle virus (PhCMoV) in 2018 in Austria. Subsequently, PhCMoV was detected in Germany and Serbia on tomatoes showing severe fruit mottling and ripening anomalies. We report here how prepublication data-sharing resulted in an international collaboration across eight laboratories in five countries, enabling an in-depth characterization of PhCMoV. The independent studies converged toward its recent identification in eight additional European countries and confirmed its presence in samples collected 20 years ago (2002). The natural plant host range was expanded from two to nine species across seven families, and we confirmed the association of PhCMoV presence with severe fruit symptoms on economically important crops such as tomato, eggplant, and cucumber. Mechanical inoculations of selected isolates in the greenhouse established the causality of the symptoms on a new indexing host range. In addition, phylogenetic analysis showed a low genomic variation across the 29 near-complete genome sequences available. Furthermore, a strong selection pressure within a specific ecosystem was suggested by nearly identical sequences recovered from different host plants through time. Overall, this study describes the European distribution of PhCMoV on multiple plant hosts, including economically important crops on which the virus can cause severe fruit symptoms. This work demonstrates how to efficiently improve knowledge on an emergent pathogen by sharing HTS data and provides a solid knowledge foundation for further studies on plant rhabdoviruses.[Formula: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Progra