Study of virus complex involved in raspberry crumbly fruit and bushy dwarf syndrome and evaluation of elimination possibilities (RubVir)

Raspberry viral diseases significantly decrease yield and the quality of berries. Raspberry bush dwarf virus (Idaeovirus rubi; RBDV), together with other viruses infecting Rubus, cause raspberry crumbly fruit disease and bushy dwarf syndrome. RBDV spreads by infected pollen, and it can also infect grapes and cherries. The only way to limit its spread is the use of virus-free planting material and resistant cultivars in the establishment of new orchards. The breeding efforts are focused on the resistance to RBDV, visually evaluating the development of crumbly fruits in field conditions, which could give biassed evaluation. In Latvia, viruses involved in the raspberry crumbly fruit disease development have not been studied yet and the spread of these viruses and symptoms are unknown.

The aim of this project to gain new knowledge about the virus complex involved in the raspberry crumbly fruit disease and to evaluate the efficiency of virus elimination methods. 

The goals: The role of RBDV and other viruses will be clarified in the development of raspberry crumbly fruits, and the diagnostic methods will be developed. The bio-compound allicin will be tested for the first time in the virus elimination, and virus icDNA vectors will be created, which could be further applied for evaluation of cultivar resistance. The gained knowledge will contribute for the development of the bioeconomy, and the employed students will increase the capacity of human resources in the field of virology and plant pathology.

Project Partners: Latvian Biomedical Research and Study centre

Information about the project, its goals and achieved results has been provided at scientific conferences:

• International Virus Bioinformatics Meeting (ViBioM) 2025, 13–15 May 2025, Lisbon, Portugal (https://evbc.uni-jena.de/events/vibiom2025)
  Identifying the causative agents of crumbly fruit disease in red raspberry plants in Latvia (Authors: R. Ludviga, Ņ. Zrelovs, N. Zuļģe, I. Kalnciema, S. Pikure, I. Moročko-Bičevska, Ina Baļķe)
• 14th Conference of the European Foundation for Plant Pathology, 2-5 June 2025, Uppsala, Sweden (https://www.efpp2025.com):
  First report of Raspberry leaf blotch virus on Rubus in Latvia (Autori: N. Zuļģe, I. Baka, V. Laugale, I. Moročko-Bičevska)