Archivio Journal of Plant Pathology

Abstract:

In 2006 and 2007, stone fruit tree samples collected throughout Montenegro were tested for the presence of Plum pox virus (PPV) by DAS-ELISA. The majority (85%) of the plum and peach samples were infected. The occurrence of PPV was confirmed by immunocapture-RT-PCR using various primer pairs and by sequencing. The sequence of a 908 nt fragment corresponding to the NIb(C-ter)/CP(N-ter) region of 43 isolates was determined and compared with other sequences from the NCBI database. PPV sequences from Montenegro belonged to PPV-Rec (35), PPV-D (7) and PPV-M (1). These results show that the three major PPV strains occur in Montenegro and that PPV-Rec is predominant in plums. This is the first extensive characterization of PPV isolates from Montenegro.