Characterization of Plum pox potyvirus (PPV) by DAS-ELISA and RT-PCR/RFLP analysis in Turkey

This study was conducted to determine the presence of Plum pox virus (PPV) (family Potyviridae, genus Potyvirus) in different regions of Turkey and to characterise PPV isolates by serological and molecular techniques including ELISA, PCR/ RFLP. Thus, leaf samples from different stone fruit species, almond, apricot, nectarine, peach, plum, sour and sweet cherry exhibiting various types of symptoms related to PPV were collected from different parts of the canopy from randomly selected orchards in the main stone fruit growing areas in Turkey. Polyclonal antibodies (PAbs) were used to detect the presence of PPV in the plant samples by serological assays (DAS-ELISA). The following monoclonal antibodies (Mabs): Mab5B (Universal), Mab4DG5 (PPV-D: Dideron-specific), MabAL (PPV-M: Marcus-specific), MabEA24 (PPV-El Amar-specific) and MabAC (PPV-C: Cherry-specific) were used to identify the serotyping of PPV isolates. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of RT-PCR products were performed to characterize Turkish PPV isolates. The results of RT-PCR analyses using general primers were in complete agreement with the DAS-ELISA and DASI-ELISA results, showing that 2 apricot samples of 52 stone fruit samples collected from Ankara province were found to be infected with M strain of PPV. This study confirmed the results of the previous work demonstrated the presence of PPV-M strain on apricot in Turkey.