Sequence Analysis of Plum pox virus Strain C Isolates from Russia Revealed Prevalence of the D96E Mutation in the Universal Epitope and Interstrain Recombination Events

• Main Authors: Anna Sheveleva, Peter Ivanov, Tatiana Gasanova, Gennady Osipov, Sergei Chirkov
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-08-01
• Series: Viruses
• Subjects: Plum pox virus; sour cherry; strain C; next-generation sequencing; recombination; seed transmission
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/10/9/450

The understanding of genetic diversity, geographic distribution, and antigenic properties of Plum pox virus (PPV) is a prerequisite to improve control of sharka, the most detrimental viral disease of stone fruit crops worldwide. Forty new PPV strain C isolates were detected in sour cherry (Prunus cerasus) from three geographically distant (700–1100 km) regions of European Russia. Analysis of their 3’-terminal genomic sequences showed that nineteen isolates (47.5%) bear the D96E mutation in the universal epitope of the coat protein. Almost all of them cannot be detected by the monoclonal antibody 5B in triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assayand Western blot analysis that may potentially compromise serological PPV detection in cherries. Full-length genomes of seven PPV-C isolates were determined employing next-generation sequencing. Using the Recombination Detection Program (RDP4), the recombination event covering the region from (Cter)P1 to the middle of the HcPro gene was predicted in all the available PPV-C complete genomes. The isolates Tat-4, belonging to the strain CV, and RU-17sc (PPV-CR) were inferred as major and minor parents, respectively, suggesting possible pathways of evolution of the cherry-adapted strains. Downy cherry (P. tomentosa) was identified as the natural PPV-C host for the first time.