Natural Spread of Plum Pox Virus in Ankara, Turkey

Abstract

Plum pox virus (PPV) has a limited distribution in Turkey, so is not a serious problem for stone fruit production. However, it is widespread in apricot, plum and peach trees in the Ankara region where its natural spread was studied between 1995 and 2002 in 10 home gardens planted with apricot, plum and peach trees. The presence of the virus was determined by visual observation of symptoms in leaves and fruits and by double antibody sandwich enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (DAS‐ELISA); strains were identified by double antibody sandwich indirect enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (DASI‐ELISA) and immunocapture reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (IC‐RT‐PCR) tests. Within 8 years, PPV incidence in the gardens near to, and 0.5 km from an infection source was 85.7–100 and 25–29.4%, respectively. This difference in incidence was attributed to the distance from the infection source. All PPV isolates were identified as PPV‐M. It was found that sharka disease was introduced to the healthy gardens by mealy plum aphids (Hyalopterus pruni), the only vector of PPV found in Ankara. This is the first report of PPV spread in Turkey.

Strain identification and sequence variability of plum pox virus in Turkey

“…However, PPV-M isolates in İstanbul that were collected from residential gardens formed a separate group on the phylogenetic tree, suggesting that M İstanbul isolates are not likely a recent introduction. PPV-M was also identified in Ankara by several studies (Elibüyük, 2003(Elibüyük, , 2004Sertkaya et al, 2003) by mostly using PPV-M-specific monoclonal antibodies. We assume that PPV-T samples in Ankara were misidentified as PPV-M.…”

“…Since PPV was first reported in 1969, several studies have showed PPV occurrence in different locations: Ankara, Antalya, Aksaray, Edirne, Balıkesir, Bilecik, Bursa, Çanakkale, Kayseri, Konya, İzmir, İzmit, Manisa, Mersin, Sakarya, Samsun, Tekirdağ, and Yalova (Kurçman, 1973, Yürektürk, 1984Dunez, 1986;Erdiller, 1988;Elibüyük and Erdiller, 1991;Azeri, 1994;Elibüyük, 2003Elibüyük, , 2004Elibüyük, , 2006Koç and Baloğlu, 2006;Candresse et al, 2007;Gümüş et al, 2007;Çıtır and İlbağı, 2008;İlbağı et al, 2008;Akbaş et al, 2011;Ulubaş Serçe et al, 2011;Çelik and Topkaya Kütük, 2013;Ceylan et al, 2014;İlbağ and Çıtır, 2014;Deligöz et al, 2015). PPV in Aydın, Denizli, Eskişehir, İstanbul, and Kırklareli has been reported for the first time in the present study.…”

“…Edirne, a region neighboring Bulgaria, was the first province where PPV was observed in Turkey. Subsequently, it was detected in the Central Anatolia, Marmara, Mediterranean, Aegean, and Black Sea regions (Şahtiyancı, 1969;Kurçman, 1973;Yürektürk, 1984;Erdiler, 1988;Elibüyük and Erdiller, 1991;Elibüyük, 2003Elibüyük, , 2004Elibüyük, , 2006Sertkaya et al, 2003;Koç and Baloğlu, 2006;Candresse et al, 2007;Gümüş et al, 2007;İlbağı et al, 2008;Ulubaş Serçe et al, 2009;Akbaş et al, 2011;Ceylan et al, 2014;İlbağ andÇıtır, 2014, Deligöz et al, 2015). ELISA and PCR approaches were mostly performed to detect PPV in Turkey.…”

“…Double antibody sandwich indirect (DASI)-ELISA and molecular typing showed that 2 of 52 stone fruit samples collected from apricots in Ankara Province were infected with the M strain of PPV. Based on DAS-ELISA typing, Elibüyük (2003Elibüyük ( , 2004Elibüyük ( , 2006 reported that many apricots, plums, and peaches are infected with PPV-D, M, and a mix of D and M in Ankara, which is accepted as the most infected region in Turkey. Sequence analysis was also performed for characterization and strain identification of Turkish isolates.…”

Effects of prey species and its density on larval performance of two species of hoverfly larvae, Episyrphus balteatus de Geer and Eupeodes corollae Fabricius (Diptera: Syrphidae)

“…Aphids are one of the most devastating insect pests for many agricultural crops and fruits due to the characteristic sucking of plant phloem sap and transmission of plant viruses (Power, 1987;Werker et al, 1998;Dusi and Peters, 1999;Elibuyuk, 2003;Fiebig et al, 2004;Rassaby et al, 2004), and they easily develop insecticide resistance (Herron et al, 2001;Kift et al, 2004). Nowadays, environmental hazards due to regular and rather intensive chemical insecticide spraying is a growing concern.…”