virtigation second newsletter

Second VIRTIGATION newsletter is published!


View this email in your browser



Welcome to the 2nd edition of the VIRTIGATION project newsletter!

In this summer edition, we provide you with an update on our recent activities and event participations, as VIRTIGATION has completed its first year.

Moreover, we bring you our latest blog and social media series touching upon the different areas of emerging viral diseases affecting tomato and cucurbit crops.

What’s new in VIRTIGATION? 

Recap of the VIRTIGATION annual meeting in Almería, Spain: From 30 March to 1 April, VIRTIGATION partners gathered in Europe’s greenhouse capital Almería for the project’s first face-to-face annual meeting, to discuss progress made and the next steps ahead – find out more here

Our country focus series presented the plant virus situation in the VIRTIGATION focus countries, and what project partners & stakeholders are doing to address it. Read the editions on the Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany & our other target countries Israel, India, Morocco, the UK, Italy and Luxembourg.   

Official launch of VIRTIGATION multi-actor network: On the 30th of March, our multi-actor network was launched through a workshop gathering key local stakeholders in Almería, in parallel to the project’s annual meeting. More info here

VIRTIGATION joins forces with EU-funded HARNESSTOM project: In May 2022, our project established a cooperation with the Horizon 2020 HARNESSTOM project, which harnesses the value of tomato genetic resources for now and the future. Later this year, we will organize our first joint activities with HARNESSTOM, so stay tuned!

EU consultation on Legislation for plants produced by new genomic techniques

The EU Commission is preparing a new policy initiative on plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis, also covering food and feed derived from such plants. This EU initiative aims at establishing regulatory oversight for the concerned plant products, while ensuring a high level of protection of human and animal health and the environment. It also seeks to enable innovation and the contribution of plants obtained by safe new genomic techniques (NGTs) to the objectives of the European Green Deal and the EU Farm to Fork Strategy.

The recently launched EU public consultation aims to gather citizens’ and stakeholders’ views on the functioning of the current GMO legislation for plants obtained by targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis and their food and feed products, i.e. under the current GMO legislation, and on potential options for a new framework. This policy initiative targets EU and national public authorities, breeders, farmers and other stakeholders in the agri-food chain, as well as academia and NGOs, both inside and outside the EU. It seeks to cover a broad range of interests in the fields of agriculture, food and feed, plants, the environment, sustainability, biotechnology in general and application of targeted mutagenesis and cisgenesis in plants, including their food and feed products.

VIRTIGATION project coordinator Prof. Hervé Vanderschuren from KU Leuven (Belgium) on this new policy initiative from the EU Commission: “The VIRTIGATION consortium wishes to highlight an excellent initiative from the European Commission on new genomic techniques. Through a consultation with a wide target audience, the EU Commission will gather information about the perception of new genomic technologies and their potential to make European agriculture more sustainable. While the VIRTIGATION project does not use advanced genome editing techniques to mitigate current and emerging viral diseases, such techniques could be instrumental in the near future to secure crop production and to reduce the use of pesticides”.

The consultation on Legislation for plants produced by new genomic techniques is open for submissions until the 22nd of July under this link

Plant science publication corner

 

As part of its mission to establish a community on emerging viral diseases in tomatoes and cucurbits, VIRTIGATION gathers here new and interesting plant science publications and developments on this topic: 

1) “Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae): What Relationships with and Morpho-Physiological Effects on the Plants It Develops on?”, co-authored by VIRTIGATION scientists Alessia Farina, Giuseppe E. Massimino Cocuzza, Pompeo Suma and Carmelo Rapisarda, Applied Entomology Section in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the University of Cataniapublished in the MDPI insects journal

2) “Coinfection of Tomato Plants with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus and Tomato chlorosis virus Affects the Interaction with Host and Whiteflies”, co-authored by VIRTIGATION scientists Juan José Lopez-Moya (CRAG) and Juan Antonio Díaz-Pendon (CSIC) – published in the Phytopathology journal

3) “Specificity of Resistance and Tolerance to Cucumber Vein Yellowing Virus in Melon Accessions and Resistance Breaking with a Single Mutation in VPg”, co-authored by VIRTIGATION scientists Cécile Desbiez (INRAE) and Juan José Lopez-Moya (CRAG) – published in the Phytopathology journal

4) “Tomato Defense against Whiteflies under Drought Stress: Non-Additive Effects and Cultivar-Specific Responses”, edited by VIRTIGATION scientist Moshe Lapidot (Volcani Center) – published in the MDPI plants journal

Multilingual news from the countries of the VIRTIGATION network

  • España: Nuestros socios AGAPA y TECNOVA han escrito nuevos artículos sobre nuestra reunión anual en Almería – les pueden encontrar aquí e aquí. El RAIF – Red de Alerta e Información Fitosanitaria de Andalucía – ha también publicado un artículo sobre VIRTIGATION aquí.  
  • Deutschland: Unser Projektpartner LNW – die Landwirtschaftskammer Nordrhein-Westfalen – hat zudem einen neuen Artikel zu unserem Projekt auf ihrer Webseite veröffentlicht, den Sie hier nachlesen können.  
  • Do you want to know more about what’s happening in the VIRTIGATION network? Then don’t forget to check in regularly on our multilingual website and social media channels to stay informed!

STAY UPDATED 

Follow VIRTIGATION on its social media channels to stay updated on project progress. Join the VIRTIGATION community as it protects the #planthealth of tomatoes and cucurbits as key fruits and vegetables.  

Twitter 
LinkedIn 
Facebook
ResearchGate
YouTube 

 

Copyright © 2022 VIRTIGATION Project, All rights reserved.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No. 101000570. 

Our mailing address is:
virtigation@rtds-group.com

Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.