Research into the viruses of soft fruit crop plants has been done at The James Hutton Institute since the early 1950s, leading to the identification of the causal agents of many raspberry diseases and to the development of testing procedures and specific diagnostics for numerous raspberry viruses. This work is continuing, incorporating modern technologies to characterise at the molecular level viruses already known to affect Rubus plants, as well as newly emerging viruses that become apparent as a result of alterations in cultivation practices and environmental conditions. The results from this work are used by James Hutton Institute entomologists and soft fruit geneticists to develop new fruit varieties that are resistant to viruses and their insect vectors.
You may be interested to look at our database of soft fruit viruses which contains information on over 60 soft fruit viruses reported to occur in raspberry, blackcurrant, strawberry and blueberry.
(click on links to go to staff pages)
Wendy McGavin