Pepper Virome Molecular Biology, Diagnostics and Management

Pepper Virome: Molecular Biology, Diagnostics and Management presents detailed information about the plant viruses that infect pepper worldwide, providing crucial insights for both the scientific community and producers. Understanding the nature of the viruses, their transmission methods, and possible sources of resistance in order to minimize the yield losses as well as to reduce the spread of these viruses to new locations or countries is of global importance. Pepper is an important commodity worldwide, cultivated for both fresh produce and for processing industry as a spice. However, various diseases affect pepper production and cause significant yield losses in pepper yield. The increasing outbreaks of virus species infecting Capsicum spp. have become a major problem for growers. A combination of factors, including expansion and intensification of pepper cultivation, availability of volunteer hosts, abundance of insect vectors, and climate change have all contributed to the issue. This book provides in-depth information on both the viruses infecting peppers and eco-friendly management measures to decrease the rate of spread of viruses.

1. Capsicum genomics and biotechnology/genetics Section-I: Diversity 2. Pepper virome diversity and its ecological implications 3. Diagnosis, genetic diversity and molecular characterization of geminiviruses infecting pepper 4. Interactions between bell pepper endornavirus and the host 5. Pepper viruses: agricultural threats turned effective tools with varied biotechnological applications Section-II: Evolution 6. Overview of RNA viruses infecting Capsicum species 7. Interactome of Pepper-pepper infecting viruses 8. An update on the polerovirus-induced pepper yellow disease 9. A global scenario of Capsicum-infecting DNA viruses 10. Chilli leaf curl virus: an emerging threat to our current vegetable production 11. An updated account on the pepper-begomovirus interplay: A never-ending physiological warfare Section III: Transmission and Management 12. Seed transmission of pepper viruses: what is known and what is not 13. Thrips as the vectors of Tospoviruses associated with Chili 14. Virus-vector interactions and transmission 15. Virus, viroid and nematode interactions 16. Virus Management: Traditional and Modern 17. Characterization and management of economically important viruses on sweet pepper cultivars in Europe 18. Chilli Leaf Curl Disease: Status and Strategies for Sustainable Management

Professor (Dr.) Akhtar Ali earned his PhD (1994–1999) in plant virology from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and is now a professor at the Department of Biological Sciences, The University of Tulsa (TU), Oklahoma, USA. He has held several postdoctoral positions in plant virology at the Tohoku Agricultural Research Center (TARC), Morioka, Japan (1999–2001), at the CSIRO in Adelaide, Australia (2002–2004), and at the Sam Robert Noble Research Institute in Ardmore, Oklahoma, USA (2004–2007). In 2007, he joined the University of Tulsa as an assistant professor and was promoted to associate professor in 2012 and full professor in 2020. In 2017, Dr. Ali was awarded a US Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Okayama and worked on mycoviruses. His courses cover everything from human disease to plants, and he developed and taught several courses (Experimental Techniques in Molecular Biology, Introduction to Virology, and Biology of Cancer) to both undergraduate and graduate students. His research interests include virus evolution, genetic bottlenecks, epidemiology, and the molecular characterization of plants and mycoviruses in various agricultural crops. He has supervised >20 PhD/MS students, published over 100 scientific papers, 12 book chapters, and presented 22 papers at international and 85 papers at various national conferences. Dr. Ali served as an editor for several international journals, such as Plant Disease, PhytoFrontier, Pathogens, PLOS One, and Frontiers in Virology and Microbiology. In 2023, Dr. Ali was awarded the Zelimir Schmidt Award for Outstanding Researcher by the College of Engineering and Natural Science at the University of Tulsa.

• Focuses on symptomatology, transmission, and epidemiology of pepper viruses
• Reveals the impact on host, yield, and virus-vector interactions
• Evaluates management strategies against viruses and how they have evolved