PCR mediated detection of sex and PaLCuV infection in papaya - A review

Abstract: The global papaya cultivation faces a major threat from various fungal and viral diseases, apart from the uncertainty in the identification of sex at juvenile stage. In case of papaya, only female and hermaphrodite plants bear fruits and the diagnostics discriminating male, female and hermaphrodite based on molecular markers used widely for sex determination, can be of great help. On the other hand, the papaya cultivation faces major challenge by leaf curl disease, which needs to be detected timely and simultaneously along with respective sex in order to achieve a higher yield. This review highlights the significance and detection of papaya sex and virus using molecular approaches; however, the authors feel that using multiplex PCR, a reliable and cost-effective technique giving results in a single attempt is by far the best approach. These molecular diagnostics may save papaya industry and give farmers a complete package of healthy (virus free) female/hermaphrodite seedling.