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Nucleic acid transfer between plants is a phenomenon which is likely to occur in many ways in nature. We report here the active transmission of Apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) naked ssRNA species by the whitefly Trialeurodes vaporariorum (Tv). Not only the viroid RNA, its DNA form was also identified from the insect. The viroid transfer efficiency was enhanced with the help of Cucumis sativus Phloem protein 2 (CsPP2), a plant protein known to translocate viroid RNAs. This PP2/ASSVd complex is stably present in the viroid infected cucumber plants, as was identified with the help of immunological reaction. As viroid-like secondary structures are found in some plant RNAs, and PP2 is known to bind and translocate several RNAs, the results have huge implications in transfer of these RNA species between plants visited by the whitefly.

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Summary Himalayan wild cherry (Prunus cerasoides), widely distributed in the Himalayas, was examined for viroid infection. Two of 15 samples collected from various regions of district Kangra, Himachal Pradesh, India gave positive amplification with primers specific for three fruit tree viroids. Sequencing of these two amplicons confirmed the presence of ASSVd in Himalayan wild cherry and share 99% identity. The isolates share 91–98% sequence identity with reported sequences from Greece of sweet cherry, Prunus avium, cv. Tragana Edissis (acc. no. , , ) and wild cherry, P. avium, originated from seedlings (acc. no. , and ). They also share 98% sequence identity with an Indian isolate of ASSVd (acc. no. ). The present study reports the presence of ASSVd in Himalayan wild cherry.