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First Report of Plum pox virus (Sharka Disease) in Prunus persica in the United States

Plum pox (Sharka) is the most important virus disease of Prunus in Europe and the Mediterranean region and is caused by Plum pox potyvirus (PPV). In September 1999, PPV-like symptoms were observed in peach fruit culls in a packinghouse in Pennsylvania. All symptomatic fruit originated from a single block of peach (P. persica cv. Encore) in Adams County. Trees in the block exhibited ring pattern symptoms on their leaves. A potyvirus was detected in symptomatic fruit using the Poty-Group enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) test from Agdia (Elkhart, IN). Reactions for symptomatic peach fruit and leaves also were positive using triple-antibody sandwich ELISA with the PPV polyclonal antibody from Bioreba (Carrboro, NC) for coating, the Poty-Group monoclonal antibody (MAb; Agdia) as the intermediate antibody, and double-antibody sandwich ELISA with PPV detection kits from Sanofi (Sanofi Diagnostics Pasteur, Marnes-La-Coquette, France) and Agdia and the REAL PPV kit (Durviz, Valencia, Spain) containing universal (5B) and strain typing (4DG5 and AL) PPV MAbs (1). PPV also was identified by immunocapture-reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (IC-RT-PCR) amplification and subsequent sequencing of the 220-bp 3′ noncoding region (2) (>99% sequence homology to PPV) and by IC-RT-PCR amplification of a 243-bp product in the coat protein (CP) gene (1). The virus was identified as PPV strain D based on serological typing with strainspecific MAbs and on PCR-restriction fragment length polymorphism of the CP IC-RT-PCR product with Rsa1 and Alu1 (1). This is the first report of PPV in North America.

References: (1) T. Candresse et al. Phytopathology 88:198, 1998. (2) L. Levy and A. Hadidi. EPPO Bull. 24:595, 1994.