Using HTS to understand viral diversity in arable margins and its impact on various crops

Although the understanding of viral diversity in plants is essential for evaluating the impact of viruses on plant health and optimisingdisease management strategies, significant knowledge gaps exist, especially in the context of agro-ecological interfaces such as arablemargins. Limited resources are available across Europe, and no comprehensive survey of viral diversity has been conducted to date inIreland.In this study, we employ high-throughput sequencing (HTS) to conduct an untargeted survey of viruses, assessing their diversity acrosscommercial crops and investigating plant viruses in arable margins. Two case studies are presented – analysis of viruses found in arablemargins in 4 sampling points, and analysis of viruses present in sugarbeet.