Quantitative reverse transcription PCR is used for gene expression analysis as the accurate and sensitive method. To analyze quantification of gene expression changes in apple plants, 10 housekeeping genes (ACT, CKL, EF-1α, GAPDH, MDH, PDI, THFs, UBC, UBC10, and WD40) were evaluated for their stability of expression during infection by Apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) or in cold-stress apple plant buds. Five reference-gene validation programs were used to establish the order of the most stable genes for ASGV as CKL>THFs>GAPDH>ACT, and the least stable genes WD40CKL>UBC10, and the least stable genes were ACT

We have developed a simultaneous diagnostic method that can identify both the species of thrips and tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV) that are problematic in chrysanthemum plants. This is a method of amplifying DNA by performing reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction by simultaneously adding primers specific to TSWV coat protein (N) gene and primers specific to the internal transcribed spacer 2 region of Frankliniella occidentalis and F. intonsa using total nucleic acid extracted from one thrips. The sizes of DNA fragments for TSWV, F. occidentalis, and F. intonsa were 777, 287, and 367 bp, respectively. These results showed species identification of thrips and whether thrips carrying TSWV can be simultaneously confirmed. Further usefulness of the simultaneous diagnostic method was made from greenhouse survey at chrysanthemum greenhouses in Taean (Chungcheongnam-do) and Changwon (Gyeongsangnam-do) to investigate the identification of thrips species and the rate of thrips carrying TSWV. Of thrips collected from the greenhouses, 83.7% thrips was F. occidentalis and 72.9% F. occidentalis carried TSWV in Taean. Similarly, the diagnostic method showed that 92.2% thrips was F. occidentalis and 84.0% F. occidentalis carried TSWV in Changwon. These results confirm that F. occidentalis is a dominant thrips species and the thrips species plays a crucial role in the transmission of TSWV in chrysanthemum plants in the greenhouses. Taken together, this study showed a simple diagnostic method for thrips identification and epidemiological studies of the timing and spread of TSWV through thrips in chrysanthemum greenhouses in South Korea.