Prune dwarf virus
Prune dwarf virus (PDV) is an economically important plant pathogenic virus affecting Prunus species globally. PDV is found worldwide due to easy transmission through seed, pollen, and vegetative propagation. The virus is in the family Bromoviridae an important family of plant RNA viruses containing six genera, including Alfamovirus, Ilarvirus, Bromovirus, Amularvirus, Oleavirus, and Cucumovirus. PDV belongs to the genera Ilarvirus. It can cause dwarfism of leaves on certain prune and plum plants. It will also cause yellows in sour cherry, especially when present with prunus necrotic ringspot virus. There are no known transmission vectors, though the pollen of infected cherry trees has been found to infect other cherry trees a small percent of the time. Hosts and symptoms All cultivated species of the genus Prunus including plums, cherries (sour and sweet), almonds, peaches, and apricots, are susceptible to PDV. PDV causes more damage to Prunus than PNRSV. Symptoms are variable and depend on climate, virus isolate, host species, and cultivar . Common symptoms of PDV are stunting of the tree, necrosis, and chlorosis. Symptoms of PDV in peach include darker green foliage, rosette formation in developing shoots, shortened internodes, and reduction in both plant and fruit growth . Peach Stunt Disease PDV and PNRSV are the most common viruses affecting peach in the southeastern US. PDV and PNRSV can cause disease independently of each other or can co-infect, resulting in a synergistic interaction causing a distinct dwarfing disease called peach stunt. Peach stunt disease symptoms include stunting, defoliation, reduced fruit yield, reduction in trunk circumference, and doubled production of water sprouts. Transmission and epidemiology Genome PDV genome is three segmented positive sense single-stranded (SS) RNA. RNA1 and RNA2 each has only a single ORF, encodes P1 protein and P2 protein, respectively. RNA3 posseses two ORFs which encodes movement protein (MP) and the viral coat protein (CP), respectively. Phylogeny A phylogenetic study based on recombinant-free MP and CP sequences clustered global PDV isolates into three main groups. However, the phylogenetic trees based on P1 and P2 regions did not share the similar topology of MP and CP. Additional P1 and P2 sequences are still in need to fully understand PDV evolution. Managment and control References External links ICTVdB - The Universal Virus Database: Prune dwarf virus Family Groups - The Baltimore Method Bromoviridae Viral plant pathogens and diseases