Discovery of Viroids and Viroid-Like RNAs in Plants.
Xuan Z, Xing F, Yang X, Wang Q, Wang X
Plant Pathogens
Viroids are responsible for devastating crop diseases worldwide, and finding new ones earlier could help protect the tomatoes, potatoes, and fruit trees in your garden or local food supply before outbreaks occur.
Viroids are incredibly tiny loops of genetic material — far smaller than any virus — that can infect plants and make them sick. Using modern gene-reading technology, researchers are now finding many previously unknown viroids hiding in plants we grow for food and ornament. Knowing they exist is the first step toward protecting our crops and gardens from these silent threats.
Key Findings
Next-generation sequencing enabled the discovery of numerous novel viroid and viroid-like RNA sequences not previously known to science.
Viroid-like RNAs were detected across a broad and expanding range of plant species, suggesting these agents are far more widespread than historically recognized.
Some newly identified viroid-like RNAs share structural features with known disease-causing viroids, raising concern about potential pathogenic effects on host plants.
chevron_right Technical Summary
Scientists have discovered new types of viroids and viroid-like RNAs infecting plants — tiny circular RNA molecules that can cause disease without any protein coat. Advances in DNA sequencing technology are revealing these hidden pathogens across a wide range of plant hosts.
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