New way to detect geminiviruses in sweetpotatoes.

The article reports that several viruses cause important diseases in sweetpotato, and one of them is Sweet potato leaf curl virus, a geminivirus. To prevent introduction of viral pathogens during the importation of germplasm, sweetpotato materials imported into the U.S. have to be tested by the Plant Germplasm Quarantine Office of the U.S. Department of Agricul-ture-Agricultural Research Service. A new method is sensitive and reliable, and is completed in 2 days instead of 3 months.