Detection and Molecular Characterization of Coat Protein Gene of Three Iranian Plum pox virus Isolates

Plum pox virus (PPV) is considered as one of the most devastating viruses of stone fruits in the world. During the growing seasons of the years 2012-2014, to detect and determine molecular characterization of Iranian isolates of PPV, sampling was done from stone fruit gardens in some parts in north and north western and central of Iran. A total number of 130 symptomatic Prunus leaf samples with virus like symptoms and symptomless weeds were collected from Ardebil, Mazandaran and Tehran. PPV detection was performed using DAS-ELISA, Dot Immuno Binding Assay and also RT-PCR with specific designed primers amplifying the gene encoding coat protein (CP). The results obtained from serological and molecular assays revealed presence of infection in 3 samples from Dasht-e Moghan, 24 samples from Jouybar and 2 samples from Darakeh. PCR amplicons belongs to the different regions were sequenced and compared with the corresponding worldwide strains available in NCBI. Comparisons showed the close similarity between the M6 isolate (from Dasht-e Moghan) and 15S and 10s isolates (from Jouybar) with the D (acc. nr. HF585098.1) (99.4%) and M (acc nr EF626533.1) (99.3% and 99.4%) strains of PPV, respectively. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of molecular detection of M and D strains of PPV in the studied regions based on the nucleotide sequence.