Managing Plant Viruses in Tissue-Cultured Apple and Grapevine: Strategies for Detection and Eradication.

Abstract

Producing virus-free planting materials is fundamental to sustainable fruit tree cultivation, particularly for high-value crops such as apple (Malus domestica) and grapevine (Vitis vinifera). Given the systemic and persistent nature of most plant viruses and viroids, effective elimination remains a major challenge within a tissue culture-based propagation system. Therefore, this review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of conventional virus elimination strategies-including thermotherapy, meristem and shoot tip culture, chemotherapy, and electrotherapy-while highlighting their respective strengths and limitations. Concurrently, advancements in virus detection technologies have significantly enhanced the sensitivity, speed, and precision of virus indexing, enabling the early detection of low-titer or latent infections in plantlets cultured in vitro. Besides eradication strategies, increasing attention is directed toward virus inhibition approaches. RNA interferencebased methods and plant-derived antiviral agents demonstrate promising antiviral activity in tissue-cultured apples and grapevines, offering chemical-free and ecofriendly alternatives. These biologically based inhibition strategies are particularly well-suited for integration into existing micropropagation systems. Collectively, this review emphasizes the importance of combining conventional sanitation methods with next-generation diagnostics and innovative biological inhibition technologies to develop robust, scalable, and sustainable protocols for virus-free certification.