Molecular and serological methods for the diagnosis of viruses in potato tubers

Viruses cause important diseases to potato crops. Monitoring virus content in plant material for quarantine or seed certification scheme purposes is essential to prevent the spread of viruses and to minimize the impact of viral diseases. There are currently two main methods for virus diagnosis in potato tubers: growing-on ELISA testing which requires breaking tuber dormancy followed by an ELISA test on grown plantlets and direct real-time RT-PCR testing on tubers. This chapter will describe both methods that can be adapted for large-scale virus testing activities.