PLANT VIRUSES GO GLOBAL: THE EUROPEAN VIRUS ARCHIVE

The current virus pandemic has brought to the general attention the need of sharing resources for the development of antiviral strategies. In this framework, key players are collections of biological resources and derived products, which can provide different laboratories and Institutions with virological material of utmost importance. The European virus Archive - Global (EVA-GLOBAL; https://www.european-virus-archive.com/) is a non profit organisation including a global network with expertise in virology, consisting of 38 partner laboratories both based at EU member state and non-EU institutions (Romette et al., Antiviral Res 2018;158:127-134; Coutard et al., Biopreserv Biobank 2020;18:561-569). This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 871029. The aim of the project is to collect, amplify, characterize, standardize, authenticate, and distribute viruses and derived products. The main strengths of the network rely on the synergic collaboration between laboratories, the quality of the offer in terms of viruses and derived products, the availability of diagnostic material and protocols. New tools, techniques and concepts are continuously developed in the frame of all possible virological branches. An on-line catalogue, including products and services, is available to the scientific community. Starting in 2020, plant viruses have been included in EVAg catalogue, and synergic actions are being taken amongst the most important European plant virology institutions to establish a wide collection of viruses and isolates, as well as derived products and associated services. Quality standards are being envisaged and adapted to plant viruses, in order to maintain the high profile of the EVA-GLOBAL products. This will support the advancement of knowledge in plant virology. Moreover, the project will represent an essential contribution to the preservation of virus biodiversity.