Determination of Economically Important Novel Cereal Virus Diseases and Their New Hosts by Using Next-Generation Sequencing in Grasses Collected From Turkey

Virus diseases, in particular, have an enormous impact on crop yield, crop quality, and the economic viability of the cereal industry. Wild grasses and weeds play an essential role in virus epidemiology. To better understand virus epidemiology, it is necessary to thoroughly investigate the viruses associated with known and unknown diseases on reservoir hosts of the viruses, such as wild grasses and weeds. 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 can be used as a diagnostic tool or to discover 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 biological 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.