9^th Meeting of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics in Virology and Phytoplasmology

Olomouc (CZ), 2022-05-03/05

 

 

The meeting of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics in Virology and Phytoplasmology was organized in Olomouc (CZ).

 

Revised EPPO Diagnostic Protocols reviewed during the meeting

The Panel reviewed 3 revised Diagnostic Protocols.

 

PM 7/031 Citrus tristeza virus

The Panel reviewed and discussed the comments received during country consultation. The Panel discussed extensively the use of the terms ‘isolates’, ‘phylogenetic groups’, ‘strains’ and the need to detect, identify and confirm them. It was agreed to organise a teleconference to discuss the issue further and to work on new text for section 4 Identification. The Panel agreed that the changes in the Diagnostic Protocols were quite major changes and decided that the Diagnostic Protocol should be sent for another first round of consultation. A new version of the Diagnostic Protocol that takes into account the discussion of the Panel will be prepared by the EPPO Secretariat and the Drafting Team and sent for country consultation.

 

PM7/032 Plum pox potyvirus

A revised version of the Diagnostic Protocol prepared by a drafting team composed of experts from IVIA (ES), ILVO (BE), CREA (IT), Fera (GB) and SASA (GB) was presented to the Panel. A new version of the Diagnostic Protocol that takes into account the discussion of the Panel will be prepared by the EPPO Secretariat and the Drafting Team and sent for country consultation.

 

PM 7/146 Tomato brown rugose fruit virus

The Diagnostic Protocol was adopted in 2020 and a revision was started to include new tests. The Panel reviewed and discussed the comments received during country consultation. A new version of the Diagnostic Protocol that takes into account the discussion of the Panel will be prepared by the EPPO Secretariat and the Drafting Team and sent for the final stage of consultation.

 

New EPPO Diagnostic Protocols reviewed during the meeting

The Panel reviewed 2 new Diagnostic Protocols.

 

Begomoviruses

The Panel reviewed and discussed the comments received during country consultation. A new version of the Diagnostic Protocol that takes into account the discussion of the Panel will be prepared by the EPPO Secretariat and the Drafting Team and sent for the final stage of consultation.

 

Standard on mechanical inoculation

The Panel reviewed and discussed the comments received during country consultation. The Panel agreed that the Standard is finalised by a subgroup and sent for the final stage of consultation.

 

High Throughput Sequencing in plant health diagnostics

An EPPO Standard Considerations for the use of High Throughput Sequencing in plant health diagnostics is in preparation. This Standard is one of the outcomes of the EU funded project VALITEST. During the Panel a brainstorming session was organized to discuss the need to include more guidance on high-throughput sequencing (HTS) in Diagnostic Standards. The Panel supported the proposal made by Dutch experts (NVWA, NL) to organize an online meeting on HTS in virology.

 

Binomial nomenclature for viruses

The Panel discussed how the decision of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) to move to a binomial nomenclature would affect the Diagnostic Protocols. It was noted that there will be a gradual implementation of the new nomenclature for different groups of viruses. The Panel decided to add a sentence in EPPO Diagnostic Protocols to warn the users that this new nomenclature will be implemented gradually in the Protocols.

 

Plans for future new diagnostic protocols

Proposals were made to develop a Diagnostic Protocol on rose rosette emaravirus. The Panel agreed that the need to develop a generic Standard on nepoviruses can be discussed at the next Panel meeting in 2023. It was suggested to develop Diagnostics Protocols for some potato viruses, such as potato virus H or potato virus U and on torradoviruses. The Panel agreed to discuss the need to develop a Diagnostic Protocol on torradoviruses at their next meeting in 2023. A Diagnostic Protocol on tomato mottle mosaic virus will be developed after the end of the Euphresco project (if successful, the project will be commissioned by the end of 2022).

 

Other topics

Euphresco

Three ongoing Euphresco projects were presented on:

• The ’Study on the diversity of phytoplasmas detected in European forests’.
• The ‘Resistance breaking strains of tomato spotted wilt orthotospovirus: distribution and evaluation of their impact on tomato and pepper production’.
• The ‘Development of efficient methods and identification of barcodes for discriminating Grapevine flavescence dorée sensu-stricto from other related phytoplasmas and investigation of potential correlation between taxonomic identity and grapevine, alders and hazelnut plant hosts’.

 

EFSA EPPO Collaboration

A presentation was made on EFSA activities on pest surveillance and the data needs EFSA has to optimize the development of their pest survey toolkit (in particular data on diagnostic sensitivity). It was agreed that EPPO and EFSA would continue to collaborate on this topic and involve EPPO Panels.

 

Next Panel meeting

The next meeting of the Panel on Diagnostics in Virology and Phytoplasmology will be held in the Autumn 2023.

 

Participants

The composition of the EPPO Panel on Diagnostics in Virology and Phytoplasmology can be found on the EPPO website.