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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Kearneysville, West Virginia » Appalachian Fruit Research Laboratory » Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #398411
Research Project: Integrated Production and Automation Systems for Temperate Fruit Crops

Location: Innovative Fruit Production, Improvement, and Protection

Title: Genetic diversity and dynamics of plum pox virus populations in the alternative host American plum

Author
item Collum, Tamara
item Stone, Andrew
item Rogers, Elizabeth

Submitted to: Archives of Virology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/5/2025
Publication Date: 1/26/2026
Citation: Collum, T.D., Stone, A.L., Rogers, E.E. 2026. Genetic diversity and dynamics of plum pox virus populations in the alternative host American plum. Archives of Virology. 171. Article 65. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-025-06502-3.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00705-025-06502-3

Interpretive Summary: Plum pox virus (PPV), the causative agent of the disease sharka, is the most serious viral threat to stone fruits worldwide. Wild Prunus species found in North America, such as American plum, can act as reservoirs and serve as a source of virus for infection of commercial crops. Virus strains exist as a population of closely related genomes that are undergoing competition and selection of the most fit variant for a particular environment. New genomic variants can alter the biological properties of the virus and potentially alter disease development. How PPV populations are maintained and new variants arise in wild Prunus hosts like American plum is not well understood. In this study, we used high throughput sequencing to identify PPV genomic variants in American plum and peach after initial aphid inoculation and after two cycles of growth and cold induced dormancy (CID). We found a significant decrease in total PPV variants in American plum after CID but not in peach. A set of 17 variants were identified as unique American plum, while nine variants were unique to peach. These results will help inform detection and control efforts for PPV.

Technical Abstract: Plum pox virus (PPV), the causative agent of sharka, is the most serious viral threat to stone fruits worldwide. Wild Prunus species such as American plum can act as reservoirs and serve as a source of inoculum for infection of commercial crops, but how PPV populations are maintained and new variants arise are not well understood. In this study, we used high-throughput sequencing to characterize PPV populations in American plum and peach after initial aphid inoculation and after two cycles of cold induced dormancy (CID). We found a significant decrease in total PPV variants in American plum after CID but not in peach. A set of 17 variants were identified as unique American plum, while nine variants were unique to peach. The discovery of additional, unique variants in a reservoir host indicates how such alternative hosts may increase viral population diversity.