Major In Vitro Techniques for Potato Virus Elimination and Post Eradication Detection Methods. A Review

Potato is an economically important agro-industrial crop that is conventionally propagated, however; its potential transmission of viruses through seed tubers from generation to generation is a major limitation of potato yield production. In order to produce potato virus-free and sufficient amount of potato seed tubers, several approaches of in vitro methods for virus elimination have been developed. Meristem culture has been used alone or combined with techniques such as thermotherapy, electrotherapy, cryotherapy and chemotherapy as the best alternative method for treating potato infected by viruses. Recent literature has shown that to eliminate potato virus significantly depends upon the potato cultivar, antiviral agents, type of virus, the duration of heat treatment. Appropriate duration for efficiency elimination is still under investigation. Viral elimination rate can be detected through serological methods such as enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and molecular biology technique such as real time reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (real time RT-PCR) that are used for pre and post elimination virus detection to evaluate the efficiency and the accuracy of virus elimination method. The purpose of this review is to highlight virus elimination methods in potato and recommending the most effective tool for virus detection in order to ensure the production of potato plantlet free of viruses.