The domestication of grapes dates back five thousand years ago and has spread to nearly all
continents. In recent years grape acreage has increased dramatically in new regions including
the United States of America Chile Asia (China and India) and Turkey. A major limiting
factor to the sustained production of premium grapes and wines is infections by viruses. The
advent of powerful molecular and metagenomics technologies such as molecular cloning and next
generation sequencing allowed the discovery of new viruses from grapes. To date grapevine is
susceptible to 64 viruses that belong to highly diverse taxonomic groups. The most damaging
diseases include: (1) infectious degeneration (2) leafroll disease complex and (3) rugose
wood complex. Recently two new disease syndromes have been recognized: Syrah decline and red
blotch. Losses due to fanleaf degeneration are estimated at $1 billion annually in France
alone. Other diseases including leafroll rugose wood Syrah de cline and red blotch can result
in total crop loss several years post-infection. This situation is further exacerbated by mixed
infections with multiple viruses and other biotic as well as adverse abiotic environmental
conditions such as drought and winter damage causing even greater destruction. The book
builds upon the last handbook (written over twenty years ago) on the part of diagnostics and
extensively expands its scope by inclusion of molecular biology aspects of select viruses that
are widespread and economically most important. This includes most current information on the
biology transmission genome replication transcription subcellular localization as well as
virus-host interactions. It also touches on several novel areas of scientific inquiry. It also
contains suggested directions for future research in the field of grapevine virology.
