Plum pox virus (PPV) is the most important virus of stone fruit trees (Prunus spp.) worldwide. Three major PPV strains (PPV-D, PPV-Rec and PPV-M) are spread in central Europe, differing by genomic sequence and relative epidemiological impact in particular geographical regions. Although PPV strains could multiply in several Primus species under experimental conditions, they showed a clear preference of natural host plant species. While PPV-M was usually isolated from peaches, PPV-D and PPV-Rec were predominantly found in plum trees. In our experiments the mixed strains of PPV revealed evidently higher accumulation of PPV-M in peach and apricot and PPV-D in plum, supporting the data of natural strain incidence. Screening of samples from an orchard with combined plum-peach planting showed the presence of all three major strains in both species, often in double or triple mixtures. It is possible, that the spread of particular PPV strains in their atypical hosts could be accelerated by mixed infectionswith other ("host-typical") strains.
展开▼
