Dr R Vinoth Kumar obtained his PhD from the School of Life Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. His work involves studying the emergence and evolution of begomoviruses and satellites associated with diseases in several vegetable crops and weeds. His efforts have resulted in the identification of several novel and diverse viral genomic components, thereby generating genome sequence resources that can be used to devise effective management strategies to curb these diseases. In addition, he has studied the interaction of host plants with viral proteins during pathogenesis, which can be employed to create new antiviral methods against these begomoviruses. Dr Kumar has submitted more than 70 viral genomic sequences to the public database and has published numerous research articles and book chapters. He also had a brief stay at the University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK with the help of a scholarship from the European Commission. Currently, he is working as a researcher at the National Centre for Biological Sciences (TIFR-NCBS), Bengaluru, India.
This book provides in-depth information on all key aspects of geminivirus biology, e.g. the genetics and evolution, global diversity and spread of these plant pathogens, as well as the molecular mechanisms underlying their virulence. Geminiviridae is one of the largest viral families, comprising numerous plant-infecting viruses that cause diseases in crops and weeds. These diseases have been reported from nearly all continents, in particular Asia, Europe, Africa and America. The book summarizes the current state of knowledge on the interactions between plant host and virus. In addition, it discusses advances regarding the trans-replication of satellite molecules and its effect on geminiviral pathogenesis, as well as pest management strategies to combat these diseases in the field.
Given its scope, the book is a must-read reference guide for all researchers and advanced students working in virology, agriculture and plant biotechnology.