Sustainable Winegrowing With Vineyard Team

RNA Interference, known as RNAi, is a biological process that leads to the silencing of gene expression.  A lot of plant viruses are RNA viruses including grapevine leafroll-associated virus and grapevine red blotch virus. Yen-Wen Kuo, Assistant Project Scientist in the Department of Plant Pathology at the University of California, Davis is researching ways to induce RNAi in grapevines to target virus. Growers may have heard of double-stranded RNA sprays which are intended to initiate RNAi. The challenge has been that double-stranded RNA breaks down quickly in the elements. The Kou lab is working to improve this process and look for alternatives that will have little impact on the ecology. Resources: 71: New Techniques to Detect Grapevine Leafroll Disease 131: Virus Detection in Grapevines Abstract: Development of Agrobacterium tumefaciens Infiltration of Infectious Clones of Grapevine Geminivirus A Directly into Greenhouse-Grown Grapevine and Nicotiana benthamiana Plants Kuo Laboratory – Plant Virology