A plant virus consists of proteins and a piece of genetic material (DNA or RNA molecule) and is very small. A virus cannot be seen with the naked eye. After infection, it can take weeks for symptoms to appear, so it often takes a long time before an infection is noticed. The Business Unit Greenhouse Horticulture of Wageningen University & Research is investigating whether the presence of a virus in a crop can be detected earlier with raman spectroscopy. Researcher Corien Voorburg: “If this detection technique works, viruses can be detected much faster by growers.”
A crop responds quickly to infection by a virus. The metabolic activity of the cells changes. WUR is investigating whether this can be detected by using a laser.
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