Cryotherapy of shoot tips: a newly emerging technique for efficient elimination of plant pathogens

• Published in: Acta horticulturae no. 908; pp. 373 - 384
• Main Authors: Yin, Z, Feng, C, Wang, B, Wang, Q, Engelmann, F, Lambardi, M, Panis, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: International Society for Horticultural Science 01.01.2011
• Subjects: bacteria; cryosurgery; disease-free plants; excision; germplasm; meristems; plant diseases and disorders; plant pathogens; planting; RNA; shoots; sustainable agriculture; viruses
• ISSN: 0567-7572
• DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2011.908.49

Plant pathogen diseases have for a long time been a great threat to the sustainability of agricultural production. Production and maintenance of disease-free planting materials are pivotal for the control of plant diseases. Cryotherapy of shoot tips can efficiently eliminate plant pathogens, such as virus, phytoplasma and bacterium. Combination of thermotherapy and cryotherapy of shoot tips can enhance efficiency of virus elimination. Histological and ultrastructural studies as well as molecular RNA and pathogen localization in shoot tips provide sound explanations as to why cryotherapy of shoot tips can efficiently eliminate plant pathogens and the combination of thermotherapy and cryotherapy of shoot tips can even eliminate meristem-infecting viruses. In comparison with the more traditional methods like shoot tip culture, thermotherapy and thermotherapy followed by shoot tip culture, cryotherapy of shoot tips is easy to handle, facilitates the treatment of large number of samples, usually produces acceptably high percentages of plant regeneration and much higher frequencies of pathogen-free plants, and moreover can avoid the difficulties related to the excision of small meristems and to plant regeneration. Thus, cryotherapy of shoot tips has the potential to replace more traditional methods and can be used for preparation of plant materials for long-term storage of plant germplasm.