Plant Viruses ― Diversity, Interaction and Management

Plant viruses are significant as they affect our food supply and are capable of rapidly spreading to new plant species, so a comprehensive study of plant viruses is important in understanding their pathogenesis and prevention. This book focuses on the plant virus evolution, their molecular classification, epidemics and management. The key features in the book includes genome organization, translation and replication, virus-coded proteinases, structure of virus particles, cell receptors and host range, the RNA polymerase, quasispecies dynamics and virus evolution, and its natural habitats.

Dr. Rajarshi Kumar Gaur is presently working as Professor & Head, Department of Bioscience, Mody Institute of Technology and Science, Lakshmangarh, Sikar, Rajasthan, India. He did his Ph.D on molecular characterization of sugarcane viruses of India. He had partially characterized three sugarcane virus viz., sugarcane mosaic virus, sugarcane streak mosaic virus and sugarcane yellow luteovirus. He received MASHAV fellowship in 2004 of Israel government for his post doctoral studies and joined The Volcani Centre, Israel and then shifted to BenGurion University, Negev, Israel. In 2007 he received the Visiting Scientist Fellowship from Swedish Institute Fellowship, Sweden for one year to work in the The Umea University, Umea, Sweden. He is also a recipient of ICGEB, Italy Post-Doctoral fellowship in 2008. He worked on development of marker-free transgenic plant against cucumber viruses. He has made significant contributions on sugarcane viruses and published 130 national/international papers and presented near about 50 papers in the national and international conferences. He was awarded as Fellow of Linnean Society, London, UK. He has also visited Thailand, New Zealand, London, Canada, USA and Italy for the sake of attending the conference/workshop. Currently, he is handling different projects funded by Government of India on plant virus and disease management.

 Prof.(Dr.)S.M.Paul Khurana did his 2 years of Post Doctoral Research(1970-72) in Adv Plant Virology at Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan with Prof Zyun Hidaka. Availing JSPS fellowship. Also availed GOI DBT overseas fellowship for one year at University of Minnesota, St Paul (USA) with Prof EE Banttari & specialized in Immunodiagnostics Technology (March 1987 to April, 1988). Scientist/Sr Scientist ,Principal Scientist, Head, Virus/Seed Pathology (1976-82/1988), Principal Scientist & Head, Plant Pathology Divn (1988-93), Project Coordinator AICRP-Potato( 1994-2004), and Director (2002-2004), Central Potato Research Institute, Shimla; Vice -Chancellor, Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur (2004-2009). Director, Amity Instt of Biotechnology, AUUP, Noida (2009-10), Consultant CIP/FAO (1992, 1996,1997). Director, Amity Instt of Biotechnology (2010-2015), Dean, Sci, Engg & Technology (2013-contd.) Amity Univ Haryana, Gurgaon.

Prof. Dorokhov Yuri Leonidovich is an expert in the molecular biology of plant viruses. He graduated from the Sechenov Moscow Medical Institute with honors (1969) and earned a Doctor of Biological Sciences (1986). He is presently a professor in the specialty "Virology" (1999) and is the head of the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Viruses, A.N. Belozersky Institute of Physico-Chemical Biology, Moscow State University, Russia. He has supervised more than 40 graduate students and 13 PhD theses and has published over 80 scientific papers in the fields of virology and molecular biology. He is a Laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation (1994) for studies on plant virus cell-to-cell movement. His scientific interests include the expression of the viral genome and the intracellular transport of proteins and RNA. He determined the complete nucleotide sequence of a new cruciferous-infecting tobamovirus and discovered a new mechanism for the internal translation initiation of tobamovirus. In the field of applied research, he created effective plant viral-based vectors for producing vaccines and anti-cancer monoclonal antibodies in plants. He developed an