Many types of viruses exist in nature that affect plum plants. This article will discuss the most important ones. In 2020, the plum pox virus (PPV) discovery, identification, and eradication succeeded in Uzbekistan. Moreover, these investigations have also provided powerful tools for detailed analysis of the evolutionary processes and spread dynamics of PPV. These also assessed biological identification via mechanical inoculation of indicator plants and molecular characterization using RT-PCR with strain-specific primers followed by agarose gel electrophoresis, partial coat protein gene sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. PPV reached biological identification upon mechanical inoculation of most test indicator plants, where symptoms of the virus appeared in ring mosaics on leaves of the family Chenopodiaceae members, such as Chenopodium quinoa. Molecular-genetic identification of the isolated PPV isolates confirmed they belonged to the D strain. However, the analysis of the nucleotide and amino acid sequences of the protein coat gene showed that isolates MT038048.1 (Uz1), MT038050.1 (Uz2), and MT038049.1 (Uz3) were different but closely related, derived from the same ancestor found on the closely related phylogenetic branches. Currently, this virus is absent from Uzbekistan; it has been eradicated using methods applied by the quarantine agency of the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Plum pox virus (PPV), isolates, RT-PCR, coat protein (CP) gene, primer design, Chenopodium quinoa, phylogenetic analysis
Molecular characterization confirmed the PPV in studied samples of the apricot, sweet cherry, and plum cultivars and their hybrids in Uzbekistan.