{"id":47971,"date":"2025-04-28T15:02:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T09:32:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=47971"},"modified":"2025-05-28T16:41:21","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T11:11:21","slug":"rna-based-antiviral-for-agricultural-virus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/rna-based-antiviral-for-agricultural-virus\/","title":{"rendered":"RNA-Based Antiviral for Agricultural Virus"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>RNA-Based Antiviral for Agricultural Virus Latest News<\/h2>\n<p>Plant pests and diseases destroy nearly 40% of the world\u2019s annual crop production, according to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). Plant viruses alone cause over $30 billion in annual losses globally.<\/p>\n<h2>What is the Mosaic Virus?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>The Mosaic virus is a\u00a0<strong>parasite<\/strong>\u00a0that destroys plants at the\u00a0<strong>molecular level.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Infected plants spread the virus to other plants<\/strong>, potentially devastating an entire harvest.<\/li>\n<li><strong>It affects a wide variety of crops,<\/strong>\u00a0including\u00a0<strong>roses, beans, tobacco, tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, squash, melons, and peppers<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>About Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV)<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>CMV is a plant virus affecting a wide range of crops<\/strong>\u00a0such as\u00a0<strong>cucumber, melon, eggplant, tomato, carrot, and lettuce<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CMV was first identified in cucumbers in 1934<\/strong>, giving the virus its name.<\/li>\n<li>The virus is spread mainly through<strong>\u00a0sap-sucking insects called aphids<\/strong>, with nearly\u00a0<strong>90 aphid species capable of transmitting CMV<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li>CMV can also spread through\u00a0<strong>human touch<\/strong>, but the likelihood is<strong>\u00a0extremely low<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Weather conditions with high temperatures and intermittent rain<\/strong>\u00a0promote the multiplication of aphids, thereby facilitating the spread of CMV.<\/li>\n<li><strong>CMV<\/strong>\u00a0is a major threat, infecting more than\u00a0<strong>1,200 plant species,<\/strong>\u00a0including\u00a0<strong>cucumbers, cereals, and medicinal plants<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>In India, CMV causes 25-30% yield losses in banana plantations<\/strong>\u00a0and up to\u00a0<strong>70% infection rates<\/strong>\u00a0in crops like\u00a0<strong>pumpkins, cucumbers, and melons<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>RNA-Based Defence Mechanism<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>RNA Silencing<\/strong>: A\u00a0<strong>natural defence system<\/strong>\u00a0in plants against viral attacks.\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Double-stranded RNA (dsRNA)<\/strong>\u00a0from the virus triggers the plant\u2019s immune response.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dicer-like enzymes (DCLs)<\/strong>\u00a0slice the dsRNA into\u00a0<strong>small interfering RNAs (siRNAs)<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>siRNAs<\/strong>\u00a0then guide the system to\u00a0<strong>destroy viral RNA<\/strong>, stopping virus replication.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Types of RNA-Based Techniques<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Host-Induced Gene Silencing (HIGS)<\/strong>: Plants are\u00a0<strong>genetically modified<\/strong>\u00a0to produce\u00a0<strong>virus-targeting dsRNA<\/strong>\u00a0internally for\u00a0<strong>continuous protection<\/strong>. However,\u00a0<strong>high costs<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>regulatory hurdles<\/strong>, and risk of\u00a0<strong>viral resistance<\/strong>\u00a0limit its use.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Spray-Induced Gene Silencing (SIGS)<\/strong>:\u00a0<strong>RNA sprays<\/strong>\u00a0are applied to plant leaves,\u00a0<strong>activating natural immunity<\/strong>\u00a0without altering plant DNA.\u00a0<strong>Cost-effective<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>environmentally friendly<\/strong>, but\u00a0<strong>traditional dsRNA<\/strong>\u00a0often generates a\u00a0<strong>random mix of siRNAs<\/strong>, reducing efficiency.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>RNA-Based Antiviral for Agricultural Virus FAQs<\/h2>\n<p><strong>Q1.\u00a0<\/strong>What is a Mosaic Virus?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0A Mosaic Virus is a plant virus that causes a mottled appearance with light and dark green or yellow patches on leaves, severely affecting crop growth and yield.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q2.\u00a0<\/strong>Which crops are commonly affected by Mosaic Virus?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0Tobacco, tomato, cucumber, sugarcane, papaya, and legumes are among the crops commonly affected by different types of Mosaic Viruses.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Q3.\u00a0<\/strong>What are the major types of Mosaic Viruses?<br \/>\n<strong>Ans.<\/strong>\u00a0The major types include Tobacco Mosaic Virus (TMV), Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV), and Papaya Ringspot Virus (PRSV).<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source:\u00a0<\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/sci-tech\/energy-and-environment\/rna-based-antiviral-offers-strong-defence-against-cucumber-mosaic-virus\/article69497221.ece\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TH<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Mosaic Virus is a plant virus that causes a mottled appearance with light and dark green or yellow patches on leaves, severely affecting crop growth and yield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47972,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,517,23],"class_list":{"0":"post-47971","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","8":"tag-prelims-pointers","9":"tag-rna-based-antiviral-for-agricultural-virus","10":"tag-upsc-prelims-current-affairs","11":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}