Diagnostics and Treatments John Bowers Christopher Clark Marc Fucs John Halbrendt Markus Keller Margarita Licha Clarissa Maroon-Largo Naidu Rayapati Adib Rowhani Simon Scott Mohamed Sedegui Dan Thompson

Goal 4 The NCPN will develop new techniques for testing plants for pathogens and pests and will implement the most appropriate technology. Goal 5 The NCPN will develop new, more rapid techniques for eliminating pathogens and pests from economically important specialty crop plans for planting and will implement the most appropriate technology.

What is the physical make up of the network? The requirement to develop techniques which allow the detection of virus and virus-like agents with maximum sensitivity and reliability and without ambiguity is of paramount importance to the development of this network, particularly for those diseases with which no etiological agent has yet been associated.

The network would be best served by implementing a combined approach as described by Deborah Golino: Biological assay (sap inoculation to herbaceous hosts and graft inoculation to woody indicators), immunological testing, and molecular testing.

Elimination of the use of biological assays would shorten the time taken to be able to release virus-tested material. However, this is a non-specific approach to testing whereas ELISA and PCR are specific and can be restrictive – they do not detect all strains, isolates, or variants of an individual virus.

The network should operate at 2 levels. Level 1 Material is tested as rigorously as possible and maintained in a foundation planting under optimal management. Level 2 Material is released to ‘ mother blocks ’ tested on a regular basis for pathogens of importance to the individual crop or a specific region. This should operate on a national standard thus facilitating movement of material between regions within the US.

Establish pathogen list and define the tests - national list and/or regional list? For a particular pathogen, various centers should use the same test(s). NCPN will define the standards rather than wait for a regulatory body to dictate the standards. NCNP will define the accepted protocols for each organism. NCNP will validate the tests.

Goal 4 The NCPN will establish diagnostic guidelines/national standards for the different species for certification and maintenance of various specialty crops.

4.5. The NCPN will encourage and participate in research on the epidemiological and economic impact of significant diseases.

We are at the edge of current technology Treatments Goal #5: The NCPN will investigate, determine and implement the most appropriate methods for effective and rapid elimination of pathogens from specialty crops for planting