title: Thermotherapy, chemotherapy, and meristem culture in banana.
abstract: Bananas that provide a staple food to the millions of people are adversely affected by several viruses such as Banana bunchy Top Virus (BBTV), Banana Streak Virus (BSV), and Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV). These viruses are known to have a devastating effect on crop production and constraint to the international exchange and conservation of banana germplasm-a cornerstone for breeding new cultivars. The viruses are particularly problematic in vegetative propagated crops, like bananas, because of their transmission in the planting material. Different virus eradication techniques have been developed, such as thermotherapy, chemotherapy, and meristem culture for providing virus-free planting material. Meristem culture proved to be the most effective procedure to eradicate phloem-associated viruses. This method requires isolation of meristematic dome of plant under the aseptic conditions and culture in an appropriate nutrient medium to develop new virus-free plants. Thermotherapy is another widely used virus eradication technique, which is initially carried out on in vivo or in vitro plants and eventually combined with meristem culture technique. The plantlets are initially grown at 28°C day temperature and increase it by 2°C per day until reaches 40°C and the night temperature at 28°C; maintain plants at 40°C for 4 weeks; excise meristem and culture onto the regeneration medium. In chemotherapy technique, antiviral chemical compound Virazole(®) is applied on meristem culture. Combination of these techniques is also applied to improve the eradication rate.
authors.affiliation: Plant Pathology Unit, University of Liege, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, Gembloux, Belgium. lassoisludivine@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Ludivine
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lassois
authors.forename: Philippe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lepoivre
authors.forename: Rony
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Swennen
authors.forename: Ines
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van den Houwe
authors.forename: Bart
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Panis
mesh_terms: D000064:Acclimatization; D001207:Asepsis; D003470:Culture Media / Q000737:chemistry; D046508:Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D005838:Genotype; D018519:Meristem / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D028521:Musa / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology / Q000821:virology; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D003470:Culture Media