Diagnosis

In Europe, viroids are widespread in grape vine, hop and citruses. However, they are also found in ornamental plants, e.g. Chrysanthemum and Coleus blumei. Two viroids, the potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) and the chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd), are classified as quarantine pathogens. This classification caused major problems for economic and ornamental plant breeders as they must guarantee that only viroid-free plants are brought on the market. In contrast to that the coleus blumei viroid (CbVd) is not registered. Our RT-PCR and Northern blot analyses with Coleus blumei (Fig. 1) that we purchased from several European florists revealed that none of the plants in trade was CbVd-free (Fig. 2). We are currently investigating whether CbVd infection has an effect on the appearance (habit, leaf shape, color, etc.) of C. blumei.


CbVd-infizierte Buntnessel	Northern blot Analyse zum Nachweis des CbVd in handelsüblichen Buntnesseln.

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