Workshop Topics

Begomoviruses
 - Description and Current Taxonomy
 - Molecular and biological characteristics
 - Important begomoviruses of vegetable crops
 - Interaction of begomoviruses with plants
   (location, spread within plant)
 - Impact of begomoviruses

Description and Current Taxonomy of Criniviruses
 - Description, molecular and biological characteristics
 - Important criniviruses of vegetable crops
 - Interaction of criniviruses with plants (location, spread within plant)
 - Impact of criniviruses

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV)
 - What is TYLCV?
 - What viruses are involved in Tomato yellow leaf
   curl disease?
 - Relevant molecular and biological characteristics
   of TYLCV
 - Geographic distribution of TYLCV and the various
   means of spread

Whitefly Vectors
 - Whitefly species that transmit plant viruses
 - Current status of Bemisia taxonomy
 - Geographic distribution of Bemisia biotypes
 - How to obtain the correct biotype

Methods of Inoculation of Whitefly-transmitted Viruses
 - Agro-inoculation
 - Particle Bombardment
 - Mechanical Inoculation of Cloned DNA
 - Inoculation of circular DNA viruses generated
   by TempliPhi
 - Whitefly Inoculation

Inoculation of Begomoviruses and Criniviruses by Whiteflies
 - The basics of insect transmission
 - Facilities needed, Precautions, Raising and Maintaining Colonies
 - Types of cages, sources of materials, etc…
 - Controlled inoculation vs. field inoculation
 - Age of host, age of whiteflies, age and type of
   source plants
 - How to maintain clean cultures

The Mechanics of Working with Begomoviruses and Criniviruses
 - Techniques for the detection and diagnosis
   of begomoviruses
 - Pros and cons of ELISA, PCR, Hybridization, FTA
   cards, commercial kits and laboratories, TempliPhi
 - Storage of samples, cultures, shipping samples
   for detection
 - How to start a begomovirus culture from a field sample

Cultural Practices for Management of Whitefly-transmitted Viruses for use in Plant Breeding Programs
 - Mulches, screens, plastics, best types of meshes and plastic
 - Avoidance, Bait crops, Crop free period,
 - Use of pesticides with respect to breeding for
   resistance
 - Resistance and IPM management

Interactions Between Whitefly-transmitted Viruses and Other Viruses
 - Synergism and antagonism
 - Known effects of other viruses on developing and deploying resistance
   to whitefly-transmitted viruses

Breeding for begomovirus resistance in tomato
 - Defining resistance
 - Correct identification of the virus
 - Sources of resistance, Screening for resistance
 - Resistance level evaluation – symptom severity scale,
   inoculated vs. healthy control,
   development of a resistance level scale
 - Inheritance of resistance, using markers for resistance
 - Effect of resistance hosts on epidemiology
 - Effect of plant age at time of inoculation on
   TYLCV resistance
 - Mechanism of resistance
 - Combining of different sources of resistance