類病毒(viroid)是最小的植物病原，由數百個核?酸所組成，不具鞘蛋白。類病毒在寄主上引起類似病毒造成的病徵。早期對類病毒的診斷與檢測相當不易，近年以核酸雜合和RT-PCR建立快速可靠的診斷檢測方法，類病毒病害才大量被報導。近來，在歐盟的花卉等園藝作物上有多種類病毒被檢出。我國有關的研究少，於類病毒之相關資訊及檢測工具與技術均不甚完善。我國自歐盟進口園藝作物種類與數量均多，防檢疫上對類病毒的偵檢有持續加強之必要。本計畫擬持續對重要園藝作物進行類病毒之檢測，建立類病毒基本資料，俾類病毒檢防疫之需。本計畫將與荷蘭農業部植物保護中心和Wageningen University合作，進行類病毒探針之製備與檢測技術之建立，以利田間檢測之進行。Viroid is the smallest plant pathogen consisting of several hundreds of ribonucleic acids (RNA) but not encoding coat protein. The symptoms caused by viroids are similar to that caused by plant viruses. The diagnosis and detection of viroids are not easy until the development of the techniques of nucleic acid hybridization and RT-PCR which are based on genomic RNA sequences of viroids. A lot of viroids had been identified on ornamental crops in European countries in recent years. Only a few viroid infections have been reported in Taiwan. This project will keep developing specific detection tools and techniques for viroids and keep detecting and surveying the occurrence of local and invading viroids on ornamental and solanaceous crops in Taiwan. This project will collaborate with the Plant Disease Service of the Netherlands in establishing standard detection process for viroids
