ABSTRACT

Bananas and sugarcane are important food crops worldwide. Both are susceptible to many virus diseases. The safe movement of germplasm and quarantine considerations require sensitive diagnostic techniques to prevent the inadvertent spread of such viruses. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technologies are being increasingly used for detection of known viruses and discovery and characterisation of novel viruses in both bananas and sugarcane. This paper reviews some of the important factors involved in the application of PCR to the detection of viruses in plants and looks at recent new developments towards gel-free detection, quantitation and automation of PCR product detection. The motivation for virus indexing of bananas and sugarcane and the available molecular-based diagnostic assays for the known viruses of these crops are described. Advantages and disadvantages of PCR assays are discussed in relation to routine indexing, quarantine, emerging PCR variants and other diagnostic assays currently in use.