Studies on Apricot latent foveavirus: a new virus of Prunus
In 1998, a new virus called Apricot latent virus was identified on symptomless apricots brought to Moldova from Bulgaria. This virus was shown to produce yellow-green spots on leaves when graft-transmitted to peach seedlings (Zemtchik et al., 1998). This new virus was later assigned to the genus Foveavirus (Nemchinov et al., 2000).
In France, studies were done on the possible etiology of two graft-transmissible diseases: peach asteroid spot and peach sooty ringspot (Gentit et al., 2001). Peach asteroid spot disease was observed in the 1930s in USA, causing small, star-shaped spots on peach leaves. In 1982, an unknown agent was found in a commercial apricot orchard in France. When graft-transmitted to peach (cv. ‘Springtime’), this agent gave symptoms resembling those of peach asteroid spot. In Italy and France, several isolates when graft-transmitted to peach seedlings GF305 induced a new disease called peach sooty ringspot. Studies done in France (including symptomatology on peach seedlings and herbaceous hosts, partial sequence analysis) showed that peach asteroid spot and peach sooty ringspot were closely related to Apricot latent foveavirus, and were probably variants of the virus. It is noted that further studies should be performed to determine the geographical distribution, host range, epidemiology and economic impact of these agents on Prunus crops.
Finally, the presence of Apricot latent foveavirus was recorded for the first time in 2004 in Turkey. It was found during a survey on apricot crops in 2 locations (Bademli and Bornova) in the west part of the country (Gümüs et al., 2004).
Sources
Gentit P, Foissac X, Svanella-Dumas L, Candresse T (2001) Variants of Apricot latent foveavirus (ALV) isolated from South European orchards associated with peach asteroid spot and peach sooty ringspot diseases.
Acta Horticulturae no. 550, 213-219.
Gümüs M, Al Rwahnih M, Myrta A (2004) First report of Apricot latent virus in Turkey.
Journal of Plant Pathology, 86(1), p 92.
Nemchinov LG, Shamloul AM, Zemtchik EZ, Verderevskaya TD, Hadidi A (2000) Apricot latent virus: a new species in the genus Foveavirus.
Archives of Virology, 145(9), 1801-1813.
Zemtchik EZ, Verderevskaya TD, Kalashian YA (1998) Apricot latent virus: transmission, purification and serology.
Acta Horticulturae, no.472, 153-158.