| Abstract: | Tristeza is a devastating viral disease in all the citrus growing countries throughout the world and has killed millions of citrus trees in severely affected orchards. The citrus species grafted on sour orange rootstock are affectedby this disease. Predominantly, the sweet orange, grapefruit and lime trees grafted on sour orange exhibit severesymptoms like quick decline, vein clearing, pin holing, bark scaling and degeneration leading to variable symptoms. Symptomatic expression of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) in different hosts has been attributed to virus isolateswhich are from severe to mild. Different serological and molecular assays have been deployed to differentiate thestrains of CTV. Citrus tristeza virus is diversified towards its strains on the basis of biological, serological andmolecular characterization. Phenotypic expression is due to genetic alteration and different molecular basis havenow been adopted for strain differentiation. This review will give a brief idea about the different CTV isolates,their characterization based on nucleic acid and serological assays. Different methods along with salient featuresfor strain characterization has also been reviewed. This review will also open the new aspects towards formulationof management strategies through different detection techniques. |
