Diagnosis of viruses and viroids

Immunoferment analysis (IFT) represents a widely used method for diagnosis of viruses. The IFT analysis requires antibodies against the pathogen. The main tools used for diagnosis of viruses are electronic microscopy and virus-specific antibodies.

Viroids to not have a protein membrane, therefore their diagnosis is based on detection of two-stain nucleases-resistant genome in a polyacrilamidic gel. The PGR-based detection of plant viruses with special elements is used very widely.