A Review of Detection Methods for the Plant Viruses

The early and accurate detection of plant viruses is an essential component to control those. Because the globalization of trade by free trade agreement (FTA) and the rapid climate change promote the country-to-country transfer of viruses and their hosts and vectors, diagnosis of viral diseases is getting more important. Because symptoms of viral diseases are not distinct with great variety and are confused with those of abiotic stresses, symptomatic diagnosis may not be appropriate. From the last three decades, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs), developed based on serological principle, have been widely used. However, ELISAs to detect plant viruses decrease due to some limitations such as availability of antibody for target virus, cost to produce antibody, requirement of large volume of sample, and time to complete ELISAs. Many advanced techniques allow overcoming demerits of ELISAs. Since the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) developed as a technique to amplify target DNA, PCR evolved to many variants with greater sensitivity than ELISAs. Many systems of plant virus detection are reviewed here, which includes immunological-based detection system, PCR techniques, and hybridization-based methods such as microarray. Some of techniques have been used in practical, while some are still under developing to get the level of confidence for actual use.