Red blotch disease

Red blotch disease

David Sparks Ph.D.
David Sparks Ph.D.
If you grow grapes, coronavirus isn’t the only disease you have to worry about. Grapevine red blotch disease (GRBD), also known simply as red blotch, is a viral disease of grapevine. The disease is caused by a single-stranded circular DNA virus, the species grapevine red blotch virus, also known as grapevine red blotch-associated virus, GRBaV. First identified in California, the disease affects grapevines of all varieties and is internationally present. Symptoms typically include red blotches on the leaves of red varieties and in pale green or pale yellow blotches on white varieties. It significantly reduces the value of juice collected from the berries of affected vines, costing vineyard owners as much as $65,000 per acre.

Mysore Sudarshana discovered the disease and named it red blotch. After four years of research, he confirmed the disease was caused by GRBaV through a metagenomics approach by next-generation sequencing. Sudarshana also confirmed the virus affected many different varieties of grapevine through testing of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, and Zinfandel.[8]

Previous ReportAdvice for State Department
Next ReportPerdue on Ag