I have been reading up on the viroid and testing. There has been a lot uncovered in the last year.
HLVd dramatically reduces yields. 30%-50% Reduction
HLVd spreads readily 10% bleach solution (made daily) for disinfecting tools. Alcohol can make the spread worse.
HLVd has been detected in root aphids
HLVd is pervasive. Emerging from the West Coast, HLVd is now in the majority of North American facilities and is spreading globally.
Rapid test strips are next to useless
The potential of false positive results due to interacting with microorganisms or other organic contaminants is high.
Rootstock acts as a sink for HLVd and will give the most accurate result for testing
Seed-borne infection, depending on the cultivar, the level of infection of the parents, and if it was the pollen, the mother plant, or both that were infected to begin with can be 80% of the seeds.(Pollen carries the viroid)
Testing labs that offer PCR detection services for HLVd fall into two types. Select labs will design their own tests. The second type, the majority, will purchase their tests from commercial providers.
Lab should be accredited by the A2LA
Here are some questions to ask a testing provider and expect to receive a response without being stonewalled by “proprietary information.”
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What kind of assay do you use? Did you design it or was it purchased from a third party? Which third party? Do you know which regions of the viroid it targets? How do you account for sequence variation?
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Do you have an internal control? What kind of internal control?
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What is your sample shipping process? How do you minimize RNA degradation?
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Can you provide me with validation data for your assay? Did you validate the assay yourself?