Being an ultramicroscopic obligatory parasite, viruses are quite difficult to study. In ancient time, plant viral diseases were identified based on only symptoms. Controlling viral diseases of plants has always been difficult as a virus has no cellular component. Molecular biology has changed the world of virology, pathology etc. Since Watson and Crick have revealed the double helix structure of DNA and Kary Mullis developed polymerase chain reaction (PCR), molecular diagnosis has been easier than ever before in the world of biology. Nowadays Bangladeshi scientists are also working on viruses through such modern molecular interventions.
Recently, Advanced Seed Research and Biotech Center, ACI Ltd. is working on the identification of Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) using molecular approaches. Here scientists from different expertise have combined their knowledge for identification, sequencing and phylogenetic tree development of CMV.
Knowledge of new emerging field of biological sciences, bioinformatics, is being also used in the current experiment for designing primers and phylogenetic tree development beside of advanced wet lab technologies.
Such technologies are not only confined to identification only. It is also possible to develop resistant/tolerant crop varieties against viruses. It is possible through newly developed molecular approaches rather than incorporating foreign gene\s from distantly related organism, e.g. post-transcriptional gene silencing.
We must increase our knowledge and expertise in such fields of biotechnology to cope up with modern countries for developing crops with desired traits in a shorter period of time.
