In the context of climate change, elevated temperature is a major concern due to the impact on plant–pathogen interactions. Although atmospheric temperature is predicted to increase in the next century, heat waves during summer seasons have already become a current problem. Elevated temperatures strongly influence plant–virus interactions, the most drastic effect being a breakdown of plant viral resistance conferred by some major resistance genes. In this work, we focused on the R-BPMV gene, a major resistance gene against Bean pod mottle virus in Phaseolus vulgaris. We inoculated different BPMV constructs in order to study the behavior of the R-BPMV-mediated resistance at normal (20 °C) and elevated temperatures (constant 25, 30, and 35 °C). Our results show that R-BPMV mediates a temperature-dependent phenotype of resistance from hypersensitive reaction at 20 °C to chlorotic lesions at 35 °C in the resistant genotype BAT93. BPMV is detected in inoculated leaves but not in systemic ones, suggesting that the resistance remains heat-stable up to 35 °C. R-BPMV segregates as an incompletely dominant gene in an F2 population. We also investigated the impact of elevated temperature on BPMV infection in susceptible genotypes, and our results reveal that elevated temperatures boost BPMV infection both locally and systemically in susceptible genotypes.

Background: The application of ribo nucleic acids for molecular studies requires high integrity and quality of extracted total RNA samples. In addition, the need to transfer RNA samples at room temperature without special treatments such as ice and liquid nitrogen storage according to international transport laws highlights the importance of low cost alternative methods such as RNA air-drying, lyophilisation and transportable agents. In this study, the quality and quantity of air-dried RNA samples from leaf, petiole and bark tissues of different olive genotypes using several RNA extraction methods were compared with lyophilized ground leaves and RNAlater-stored tissue samples before precipitation. The quality of RNA and prepared libraries were checked by several techniques including agarose and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, Agilent quality control, RT-PCR amplification of housekeeping and viral genes and high throughput sequencing. Results: Although RNA value varied amongst cultivars, RNA extraction with TRIzol™ Reagent in fresh extractions and samples stored in RNAlater before RNA extraction resulted in 455.26 ng/µL and 63.46 ng/µL (mean value of cultivars) as the highest RNA concentration averages, respectively. RNA samples extracted by TRIzol™ Reagents and stored for a short term at – 80 °C before air-drying showed the third highest concentration (44.87 ng/µL). The synthesized cDNAs quality for PCR amplification of housekeeping genes (Rbc 1 and Nad 5) and partial genomes of Arabis mosaic virus and Cucumber mosaic virus showed satisfactory results in RNA samples extracted by TRIzol™ Reagents despite its variation amongst cultivars. Conclusions: Considering the difficulties in the extraction of high quality and quantity RNA in olive for molecular analyses, this study demonstrated that RNA extraction method based on TRIzol™ Reagent can be considered for virobiome studies of both fresh and air-dried samples.

Beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) is the most devastating pathogen of sugar beet worldwide. This virus has been reported in the majority of sugar beet growing regions of Iran as well. For the present study, we collected samples from different sugar beet varieties with suspected symptoms of BNYVV from the main important sugar beet growing regions in eight provinces of Iran. Infection of collected samples to BNYVV was tested by ELISA and RT-PCR. Upon testing of 167 collected samples of BNYVV suspected through ELISA and RT-PCR, 115 (68.9%) were infected. Different incidences of BNYVV through surveyed provinces may represent the presence of diverse infective viral sources or resistance genes in tested sugar beet varieties which need further attempts to develop control strategies. Results also showed that BNYVV has been recently distributed throughout some surveyed regions. Otherwise, trace infection or resistance to BNYVV infection in some varieties of distinct regions may represent proper sources of resistance to BNYVV.

Potato (Solanum tuberosum) is a staple food crop that supports global food security, ranking as the world’s third most important food crop after rice and wheat in terms of human consumption, and it is threatened by Potato virus Y (PVY), which causes severe yield losses. This study integrates bioinformatics analysis and experimental approaches to elucidate molecular defense mechanisms against PVY infection. Using transcriptomic data from PVY-infected potato plants, we constructed protein-protein interaction (PPI) networks and identified hub genes central to defense responses. The qPCR validation showed that three hub genes (NAD1, NAD2, NAD3) were upregulated in resistant Sante plants but downregulated in susceptible Agria. Among these, NAD2 showed a striking 5.58-fold increase in Sante, highlighting its critical role in stress signaling and antiviral defense. Network analysis revealed interactions with microRNAs (miRNAs), including stu-miR8015-5p and stu-miR396-5p, suggesting complex regulatory networks. Codon usage bias analysis highlighted adaptive codon preferences optimized for translational efficiency, supporting potential strategies like codon deoptimization to impair viral fitness. Promoter motif analysis identified stress-responsive cis-regulatory elements linked to abscisic acid signaling, critical for antiviral responses. This comprehensive study establishes a framework for targeting hub genes and miRNAs to engineer PVY-resistant cultivars, thereby offering a sustainable solution.