Cereals, maize (zea mays), wheat (Triticum aestivum), rice (Oryza sativa), poaceae weeds

Cereals are among the most important field crops for human food and nutrition globally. Diseases in general and virus diseases, in particular, have an enormous impact on crop yield, crop quality and the economic viability of the cereal industry. There is an epidemic of plant virus diseases in some cereal producing provinces of Turkey including cereal fields in the Trakya region of Turkey. This has caused significant economic losses recently because of the reductions in cereal crop yields and their quality. It is necessary to investigate thoroughly the viruses associated with these diseases, both known and unknown viruses, so that effective control and eradication strategies can be developed and implemented. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) or massively parallel sequencing is a powerful and broad-spectrum molecular tool that has the capacity for use as a diagnostic tool, or for the discovery of new viruses. This potential for broad-spectrum or universal virus detection makes it an ideal tool for screening for known or unknown viruses that are of biologically significance or that may be associated with new diseases of concern in Turkey. In this study, NGS will be used to screen both symptomatic and healthy cereals to determine what viruses might be associated with diseases of concern. Novel viruses will be fully characterized. Standard Sanger sequencing will be used where necessary to confirm and complete genome sequencing.