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AgriLife Research Develops Nation’s First Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Clone

Oct 05, 2026

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By Torie Noellsch

New technology from Texas A&M AgriLife Research could be a major step to bring disease-resistant peppers and tomatoes to grower fields, and lower costs to grocery stores.

A research team led by Jeanmarie Verchot, PhD., professor in the Texas A&M Department of Plant Pathology and Microbiology, developed the nation’s first infectious clone of the tomato spotted wilt virus, TSWV, paving the way for plant scientists to more efficiently research disease-resistant genetics in tomatoes, peppers and other susceptible crops.

In the scientific paper, “A Novel Approach to Engineering Tomato Spotted Wilt Virus Infectious Clones by Disarming Key Nodes in Anti-Viral Defenses,” recently published in Molecular Plant-Microbe Interactions by the American Phytopathological Society, the researchers revealed the discovery that U.S. scientists have sought for decades.

With this development, Verchot and her team can now produce an unlimited amount of virus, more efficiently inoculate trial plants, and help pepper breeders move much faster in identifying superior, virus-resistant genetics.

Source : tamu.edu

Video: How American Farmers Harvest 1.15 Billion Pounds of Sunflowers

Across the open plains of North Dakota and South Dakota, sunflower fields turn the American landscape into a sea of gold. In this farming documentary, we go inside modern sunflower farming to see how farmers plant, grow, harvest, clean, dry, process, and transform sunflower seeds into valuable products used every day.

In 2024, American farmers harvested about 1.15 billion pounds of sunflowers. This video follows the full journey from warm spring planting to combine harvesting, seed cleaning, storage, oil extraction, refining, roasting, packaging, and animal feed production.

You will see how sunflower seeds are processed into cooking oil, roasted snacks, bakery ingredients, birdseed, livestock feed, and useful byproducts. From golden fields to modern processing plants, this is the story of how a beautiful flower becomes one of America’s important oilseed crops.

Watch until the end to discover how sunflower farming connects farmers, machines, factories, food production, and sustainable agriculture.