Viral diseases are among the most destructive constraints to vegetable crop production, causing severe yield losses in tomato, pepper, cucurbits, eggplant, and other major vegetable systems. Conventional management strategies, including resistant cultivars, vector control, and cultural practices, often provide incomplete or unstable protection, especially as new viral variants emerge. Spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), based on the exogenous application of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), has recently emerged as a promising nontransgenic strategy for controlling viruses infecting vegetable crops. This chapter outlines the molecular basis of dsRNA-triggered RNA interference (RNAi), including the roles of Dicer enzymes, siRNAs, and RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC) in degrading viral RNA. We discuss how externally applied dsRNA is absorbed by vegetable plants and generates localized and systemic antiviral protection. Special emphasis is placed on examples relevant to vegetable viruses such as tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), potato virus Y (PVY) in solanaceous vegetables, and key cucurbit-infecting viruses. Advances in nanoformulated dsRNA carriers that enhance stability, uptake, and persistence on vegetable foliage were also summarized. Current challenges, such as environmental degradation, delivery inefficiencies, and regulatory complexity and proposed future innovations, such as multitarget dsRNA constructs and improved nanodelivery systems, were tailored for vegetable production systems. SIGS represents a scalable and sustainable approach with strong potential to strengthen virus management in modern vegetable cropping systems.

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Intervention of Spray-Induced Gene Silencing by dsRNA in Managing Vegetable Plant Viruses

  • Muhammad Imran,
  • Kamal A. M. Abo-Elyousr,
  • Munirah F. Aldayel,
  • Zhongke Sun

摘要

Viral diseases are among the most destructive constraints to vegetable crop production, causing severe yield losses in tomato, pepper, cucurbits, eggplant, and other major vegetable systems. Conventional management strategies, including resistant cultivars, vector control, and cultural practices, often provide incomplete or unstable protection, especially as new viral variants emerge. Spray-induced gene silencing (SIGS), based on the exogenous application of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), has recently emerged as a promising nontransgenic strategy for controlling viruses infecting vegetable crops. This chapter outlines the molecular basis of dsRNA-triggered RNA interference (RNAi), including the roles of Dicer enzymes, siRNAs, and RNA-induced silencing complexes (RISC) in degrading viral RNA. We discuss how externally applied dsRNA is absorbed by vegetable plants and generates localized and systemic antiviral protection. Special emphasis is placed on examples relevant to vegetable viruses such as tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), cucumber mosaic virus (CMV), tomato mosaic virus (ToMV), potato virus Y (PVY) in solanaceous vegetables, and key cucurbit-infecting viruses. Advances in nanoformulated dsRNA carriers that enhance stability, uptake, and persistence on vegetable foliage were also summarized. Current challenges, such as environmental degradation, delivery inefficiencies, and regulatory complexity and proposed future innovations, such as multitarget dsRNA constructs and improved nanodelivery systems, were tailored for vegetable production systems. SIGS represents a scalable and sustainable approach with strong potential to strengthen virus management in modern vegetable cropping systems.