DIRECTORY OF VIRUS AND VIRUS-LIKE DISEASES OF THE GRAPEVINE AND THEIR AGENTS: INTRODUCTION

摘要

The grapevine (Vitis spp.) undoubtedly represents one of the woody crops most widely grown in temperate climates, and a highly valuable agricultural commodity. As most of the vegetatively propagated crops, grapevines are exposed to the attacks of a variety of pests and pathogens among which infectious intracellular agents (viruses, viroids, phloem- and xylem-limited prokaryotes) play a major role, causing heavy losses, shortening the productive life of vineyars, and endangering the survival itself ofaffected vines. The importance of the grapevine industry and the magnitude of the problems caused by these pathogens has generated wide interest which, in turn, has fostered intensive research which has been especially active at the international scalefrom the late 1950s onwards. The increased attention paid to grapevine's virological problems and the like has produced an impressive series of papers which now number over 5,000.