Plum Pox Virus and Sharka: a model Potyvirus and a Major Disease

CONCLUSION 
For several decades now Plum pox virus has been among a handful of intensively 
studied potyviruses and, as a consequence, it is among the most studied and best 
understood viruses in this vast, widespread and highly damaging genus. The high 
visibility of PPV is no doubt a consequence of both its high socioeconomic impact in 
Accepted 
Article

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21 
the affected Prunus crops and its quarantine regulatory status in many countries. 
These factors have contributed to its inclusion in a recent list of the 10 most 
significant viruses in molecular plant pathology (Scholthof et al., 2011). Research 
efforts on PPV have been particularly active and trend-setting in several areas, 
including the development of advanced diagnostic and detection techniques (to 
support quarantine, eradication and certification control strategies), efforts in 
epidemiology and modelling of disease spread, in plant-virus interaction studies and 
in the development of classical or transgenic resistance. In the past few years, many of 
these research lines have converged under the auspices of the SharCo project 
supported by the European Union, leading to an exemplary collaborative translational 
research effort to better control the devastating sharka disease. Further collaborative 
inputs of the same magnitude are today needed to capitalize on the progress made in 
our understanding of this virus and provide the fruit industry with a range of control 
options, including panels of varieties with high level and durable resistance to PPV 
for all the major affected Prunus crops. 
 
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 
We are grateful to F. Palmisano, A. Minafra, D. Boscia, V. Savino and A. Myrta for 
providing unpublished information about PPV-An. We acknowledge support of the 
EU for the authors in the frame of the FP7 KBBE-204429 SharCo project. The 
research of the authors is also supported by grants BIO2010-18541 from MINECO 
(JAG), APVV-0042-10 and APVV-0174-12 from the Slovak Research and 
Development Agency (MG), AGL2009-07531 from MINECO (MC), and EU-FP7 
Marie Curie STONE and French FranceAgriMer 2009 0076 020 104 and 2011 0038 
012 104 (TC). We would like to apologize to those people whose relevant 
publications could not be cited because of space constraints.