Viroids are the smallest known plant pathogens consisting of a non-encapsidated, circular, single-stranded RNA that replicate autonomously in their host plants. Viroids are classified into two families (Pospiviroidae and Avsunviroidae). All citrus viroids belong to the Pospiviroidae family (species that present a central conserved region, replicate in the nucleus of infected cells and lack of ribozyme activity) with five citrus viroid species: Citrus exocortis viroid, CEVd (Pospiviroid), Hop stunt viroid, HSVd (Hostuviroid), Citrus bark cracking viroid, CBCVd (Cocadviroid) and Citrus bent leaf viroid, CBLVd and Citrus dwarfing viroid, CDVd (Apscaviroid). In addition, Citrus viroid original source (CVd-OS) and, more recently, Citrus viroid V (CVd-V) have been proposed as tentative species of the genus Apscaviroid. Citrus viroids are graft-transmitted and their dissemination occurs mainly by propagation of contaminated material. It is known that they have a broad host range, infecting species of citrus and plants of citrus-related genera. Two important diseases in citrus are viroid-induced: (i) exocortis; (ii) and cachexia. Symptoms vary from severe to asymptomatic, and their control is based on preventive measures as availability of viroid-free budwood as a source of propagation material follow by adequate indexing procedures. The purpose of this review is to present the reader the recent advances on citrus viroid research, mainly on taxonomy, geographical distribution, methods of detection, indexing and cleaning, epidemiology and control.
Hop stunt; Citrus exocortis; Pospiviroid; Apscaviroid; Cocadviroid; Hostuviroid; Exocortis; Xyloporosis
