LAUSR

Abstract Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is one of the most important crops grown in Norway, and virus-free plants are required for commercial potato production and for preservation of potato germplasm. The present study evaluates three in vitro therapies – meristem culture, cryotherapy, and chemotherapy combined with thermotherapy – to eliminate viruses from eight historically valuable potato cultivars belonging to the Norwegian potato germplasm. Potato virus Y, potato virus M, potato virus X and potato virus S were present in eight selected old potato cultivars due to long-term conservation in open field. Double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunological assay (DAS-ELISA) and biological indicators were the standard tests used to confirm virus infection in our study. Six virus-free plants from four potato cultivars were obtained after meristem culture, and no virus-free potato cultivars were obtained after cryotherapy. Virus-free frequency for eight different potato cultivars after combining chemotherapy with thermotherapy varied from 36.4% to 100%, with single virus elimination rates of between 74.2% and 92.9%. Chemotherapy compared with thermotherapy was the most effective of the three in vitro therapies used in this study. Highly sensitive small RNA high-throughput sequencing (HTS) was used to evaluate the virus status of potato virus-free materials after virus eradication, and no virus was found, which was consistent with the results of DAS-ELISA and biological indicators. Small RNA HTS has been reported for the first time to evaluate the virus status after virus elimination and to control virus-free potato nuclear stocks.