Project Number: 6618-22000-039-07
Project Type: Specific Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Aug 15, 2010
End Date: Sep 30, 2013

Objective:
1) Finish multi-year research on detection of viruses in single and mixed infections after removal and tissue culture of virus infected verbena shoot tip meristems; 2) Survey ornamental crops in California for newly reported plant viruses, e.g. Phlox virus M and Alternanthera mosaic virus; and 3) Determine the efficiency of slow sand filtration in eliminating infectious plant viruses from recycled irrigation water.

Approach:
1) Shoot tip meristems from verbena plants naturally and experimentally infected with viruses will be removed and grown in tissue culture. Resulting plants will be regularly tested over time for the presence of the viruses to assess the conditions and timing that are required for sensitive and accurate detection; 2) Known hosts of newly reported viruses not previously detected in California will be collected from retail, wholesale and landscape locations in multiple counties and tested by ELISA and/or RT-PCR. If these viruses are found to be present, data will be provided to the California Department of Food and Agriculture for assessment. This work should prevent the establishment of quarantines on crops that harbor new, but non-agriculturally threatening viruses; and 3) Irrigation water from ornamental plants will be collected and artificially contaminated with mechanically transmissible plant viruses. The water will then be applied to a slow sand filtration system. Aliquots of water will be taken from multiple levels within the system, inoculated to indicator hosts and used for virus detection by RT-PCR.