In Vitro Elimination of PPV from Infected Apricot Shoot Tips via Chemotherapy and Cryotherapy

Plum pox potyvirus (PPV) is the most serious viral disease of stone fruits of Prunus sp. and elimination of the virus could be achieved by using in vitro-applied techniques. Thus, the potential of usage of thermotherapy, chemotherapy and cryotherapy techniques was assessed by in vitro treatment of infected apricot shoot tips. Survival was declined with prolonged application of thermotherapy whereas promising results were scored after chemotherapy and cryotherapy. The highest survival (100%) of the shoot tips was achieved with quercetin containing medium while relatively lower (80%) survival was scored with ribavirin. In addition, inclusion of the 8-azaguanine had found to be phytotoxic as no survival was achieved after treatment. In the case of cryotherapy, two-step freezing technique was applied and 10% of survival was recorded in cryopreserved apricot shoot tips. RT-PCR analysis showed that PPV was eliminated in the survived ones both after chemotherapy and cryotherapy, which revealed that those techniques could be used for in vitro elimination of PPV from infected apricot as well as other stone fruits. (C) 2015 Friends Science Publishers