Читать книгу Principles of Plant Genetics and Breeding - George Acquaah - Страница 359

Viral infections are systemic, being pervasive in the entire affected plant. Heat therapy is a procedure that is used for ridding infected plants of viral infections. After heat treatment, subsequent new growth may be free of viruses. More precisely, meristems dissected from leaf and shoot primordia are often free of viruses even when the plant is infected. Tissue culture technology is used to nurture the excised meristematic tissue into full plants that are free from viruses.

The process starts with detection (e.g. by ELISA) of the presence of a viral infection in the plant. Once confirmed, the meristems on the shoots are aseptically removed and sterilized (dipped in 75–99% ethanol or 0.1–0.5% sodium hypochlorite or household bleach for a few seconds or minutes). The explant is submitted to tissue culture as previously described. Sometimes, to increase the success of viral elimination, researchers may include chemicals (e.g. Ribavirin, Virazole) in the tissue culture medium. The plants produced must be tested to confirm virus‐free status.

The virus‐free plants are used to produce more materials (by micropropagation) for planting a virus‐free crop. It should be pointed out that virus elimination from plants do not make them virus resistant. The producer should adopt appropriate measures to protect the crop from infection.