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The European Virus Archive (EVA) was created in 2008 in response to the need for a coordinated and readily accessible collection of human and animal viruses that could be made available to academia, public health organisations and industry. The current virus pandemic has demonstrated once more the need for an international network that enables the sharing of resources for diagnosis and the development of antiviral strategies as well as a digital platform for easy access. The European virus Archive - Global (EVA-GLOBAL; https://www.european-virus-archive.com/) is a non profit organisation involving a global network with expertise in virology, consisting of 38 partner laboratories both based in EU member states and abroad (Romette et al., Antiviral Res 2018;158:127–134; Coutard et al., Biopreserv Biobank 2020;18:561-569). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871029. The aim of the project is to collect, amplify, characterize, standardize, authenticate, and distribute viral isolates and derived products (antisera, cloned cDNAs, nucleic acid extracts...). In EVA-Global the distributed collections assembled during previous EVA projects will be expanded to include plant viruses. Additionally to the growing number of animal and human viruses, plant viruses, derived products and associated services are constantly being added to the online catalog and can be ordered online. As in October 2021 already 68 plant virus isolates comprising RNA and DNA viruses as well as 15 antisera for virus detection and 6 services or training modules (e.g. HTS, diagnostic tools, virus indexing) are available at the online catalogue. EVA-GLOBAL is conceived to be an open access entity aiming at developing synergies and complementary capabilities so as to offer an improved access to researchers and industry. A single-entry point, the web-based catalogue (https://www.european-virus-archive.com/evag-portal), provides easy access for the end user to the collections including viruses, derived materials, services and engineered cells. The consortium ensures that the available materials meet the highest scientific standards in terms of safety, quality and characterization. While the property of the provided materials remains with the originators, specific EU funding provides the option for the free-of-charge access to viral resources towards public research institutions. Besides various forms of virus material, antibodies, molecular detection assays, cutting edge methodology for virus cultivation, preservation and analyses are available. All partners agreed on implementing a quality management system. As part of this, 3 different quality standards (Silver, Gold and Platinum) are defined for available plant virus isolates, targeting e.g. the availability of sequence information and purity of isolates. The large number of distinct viruses and isolates enables the concept of preparedness that has been beneficial to researchers worldwide during the current SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Moreover, the project will represent an essential contribution to the preservation of virus biodiversity.

The aim of the VirusCollect II project was to establish and extend an international network of collections of plant viruses and viroids thereby making virus isolates available for reference at diagnostic and research laboratories in Plant Health. At present access to isolates of regulated viruses is limited and only the plant virus collection at DSMZ is officially accredited as reference producer. Strengthening the infrastructure of plant virus collections is required because diagnostic tests on regulated organisms have to be accredited under the new Plant Health rules of the European Union that apply from December 14th 2019. The ability of laboratories of National Plant Protection Organizations (NPPOs) to fulfil this requirement will depend on public access to well-characterised virus isolates. The collaboration between partners of the Euphresco projects NGS-detect and VirusCollect II and especially their joint meetings offered a fruitful platform for exchanging practices in characterisation and safeguarding of virus isolates for reference. Discussions on practices in High-throughput sequencing (HTS) and analysis, and on quality criteria for reference materials contributed to a common understanding of procedures, as well as to identify future needs and functions of plant virus collections. Within the project more than 150 isolates of regulated and (related) non-regulated viruses have been made available. However, since identification of many isolates was based on only one technique, and/or sequence data were lacking or limited, not all of them qualify as reference material yet. Whether these isolates will be included in Q-bank depends on the criteria imposed on completeness of data and certainty of identification. The transfer of Q-bank to EPPO ensures the continuity of a platform for sharing data on availability and location of virus isolates for diagnostics and research. Two successive VirusCollect projects have made clear that plant virus collections are not on the priority list of policy makers and researchers. Only those partners that benefited from allocated budgets were able to contribute substantially to Q-bank by characterising isolates and making them publicly accessible and available. In addition, the implementation of the Nagoya protocol appeared to increase administrative obligations of both curators and users of collection materials. Therefore, governments need to allocate specific budgets for the characterisation and maintenance of virus collections to enable NPPO laboratories to perform their official tasks., Report of the Euphresco project 2015-F-132 'Building an international network of collections for reference of regulated and other important plant viruses and viroids (VirusCollect II)'

Plant diseases, including many plant viruses, are a continuous threat to the cost effective and safe production of food and cause significant losses in yield and quality of many important crops. It is therefore essential to minimise the impact of plant diseases through an effective and coordinated system of legislation, plant passports and testing laboratories. In such system, reliable and cost-effective diagnosis methods for plant viruses are essential. These only can be developed, validated and implemented when suitable reference materials are available. Historically, reference materials were supplied from collections maintained by European universities and research institutions. However the maintenance of such collections had come under severe pressure due to a decrease in the number of scientists (virologists in particular) and allocated budgets. For plant viruses and viroids, type isolates (if still available) were dispersed between different public and/or private collections (Roenhorst et al., 2013). The Euphresco project VirusCollect aimed to establish a common reference collection of viruses and viroids by linking collections of individual institutions via Q-bank., Scientific report of the Euphresco funded project 'Fulfilling the need for a common reference collection of plant viruses and viroids' (VirusCollect)

Für ein offenbar neues Krankheitsbild („Möhrenröte“) im ökologischen Möhrenanbau, bestehend aus Rotfärbungen des Laubes, gestauchten Herzblättern, Wurzelbärtigkeit und sog. „Rattenschwänzen“, werden Viruserkrankungen verantwortlich gemacht. Im Projekt wurden die Teilziele Virusanalytik, Status-Quo-Analysen und Lösungsstrategien wie folgt bearbeitet: Virusanalytik: Es konnten mindestens 8 verschiedene Viren identifiziert werden, nämlich 2-3 Stämme bzw. Arten aus dem Luteoviruskomplex Carrot red leaf virus (CtRLV), die Umbraviren Carrot mottle mimic virus/Carrot mottle virus, das Closterovirus Carrot yellow leaf virus, der Anthriscus-Stamm des Sequivirus Parsnip yellow fleck virus, das Potyvirus Carrot thin leaf virus, jeweils ein bisher nicht beschriebenes Carlavirus und Vitivirus sowie ein bisher unbekanntes „Beny“-ähnliches Virus. „Beny“-Virus und CtRLV wurden am häufigsten nachgewiesen. Ein konventionell erzeugtes Serum gegen CTLV wurde hergestellt und steht auch für PYFV in Aussicht. Während die Herstellung von Antiseren nach Immunisierung mit bakteriell exprimierten Hüllprotein für die CtRLV-Varianten nicht erfolgreich verlief, konnte auf diesem Wege ein Antiserum gegen CYLV erzeugt werden. Der hohe Anteil latent CtRLV-infizierter, symptomloser Pflanzen zeigt aber, dass offenbar noch andere bisher unbekannte Faktoren für die Symptomausprägung eine Rolle spielen. Die bundesweiten Status-Quo-Analysen zur Symptomatik ergaben als Hauptverbreitungsgebiete alle Anbauregionen mit intensivem Möhrenanbau, insbesondere die niedersächsische Region südlich Bremen. In Ernteproben wiesen symptomatische Rübenkörper ca. 30% Gewichtsverlust auf. Qualitätseinbussen waren nicht eindeutig erkennbar. Die ermittelten Ertragsverluste erreichten bis 17%, entsprechend bis zu € 600,-/ha. In Feldexperimenten zur Erarbeitung von Lösungsstrategien wurden Aspekte zur Sortenanfälligkeit und Saatzeit untersucht, sowie Fragen zur Rolle der Gierschblattlaus Cavariella aegopodii als vermuteten Virusvektor. Verarbeitungsmöhren hatten gegenüber Frischmarktsorten eine überwiegend höhere Symptomanfälligkeit, während Fragen zu kritischen Saatterminen und der Phänologie des Vektorfluges aufgrund der Witterungsextreme in 2003 nicht abschliessend geklärt werden konnten und der weiteren Untersuchung bedürfen.

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