ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Plant Sci.
Sec. Plant Pathogen Interactions
Assessing the Efficacy of Thermotherapy Combined with Chemotherapy or Cryotherapy for the Eradication of Grapevine Leafroll-Associated Virus 3
Provisionally accepted
Solomon Peter Wante1,2
Kar Mun Chooi3
Ranjith Pathirana4Annabel Whibley2Ellie Bradley2
Yusmiati Liau2
Bhanupratap Vanga2Amy Hill2Darrell Lizamore2*- 1Bragato Research Institute, Blenheim, New Zealand
- 2Grapevine Improvement Laboratory, Bragato Research Institute, Lincoln 7647, New Zealand, Christchurch, New Zealand
- 3The New Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research Limited, Auckland, New Zealand
- 4The University of Adelaide School of Agriculture Food & Wine, Adelaide, Australia
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Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3) poses a significant threat to viticulture and is the major virus pathogen in New Zealand. The presence of the virus is therefore undesirable within the New Zealand Winegrowers National Vine Collection, which serves as a repository of diverse and valuable grapevine genotypes. This study evaluated the effectiveness of in vitro virus eradication protocols, specifically thermotherapy combined with chemotherapy (ribavirin or oseltamivir) or cryotherapy, for eliminating GLRaV-3 from infected grapevine cultivars. Virus presence was initially confirmed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and high-throughput sequencing (HTS). Following treatment, plantlets were screened using reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) for GLRaV-3 detection. Thermotherapy followed by cryotherapy achieved the highest virus elimination rates across cultivars, including complete eradication in Sauvignon Blanc 217, Chenin Blanc, and Riesling Gm 239. Oseltamivir chemotherapy combined with thermotherapy showed higher elimination rates than ribavirin-based treatments, with complete success in Ehrenfelser and Golden Chasselas. However, observed cultivar-specific responses emphasise the need to optimise treatment protocols to achieve broad efficacy across diverse cultivars. After virus elimination, tissue-cultured material could be maintained in vitro or by cryopreservation for long-term conservation. These findings provide a scalable strategy for restoring high-health status to grapevine cultivars within germplasm repositories, thereby supporting the long-term sustainability of viticulture.
Keywords: Virus elimination, Ribavirin, Oseltamivir, tissue culture, New Zealand Winegrowers
Received: 27 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Wante, Chooi, Pathirana, Whibley, Bradley, Liau, Vanga, Hill and Lizamore. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Darrell Lizamore
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