Fighting Sharka in Peach: Current Limitations and Future Perspectives.
Sharka, caused by Plum Pox Virus (PPV), is by far the most important infectious disease of peach [P. persica (L.) Batsch] and other Prunus species. The progressive spread of the virus in many important growing areas throughout Europe poses serious issues to the economic sustainability of stone fruit crops, peach in particular. The adoption of internationally agreed-upon rules for diagnostic tests, strain-specific monitoring schemes and spatial-temporal modeling of virus spread, are all essential for a more effective sharka containment. The EU regulations on nursery activity should be modified based on the zone delimitation of PPV presence, limiting open-field production of propagation materials only to virus-free areas. Increasing the efficiency of preventive measures should be augmented by the short-term development of resistant cultivars. Putative sources of resistance/tolerance have been recently identified in peach germplasm, although the majority of novel resistant sources to PPV-M have been found in almond. However, the complexity of introgression from related-species imposes the search for alternative strategies. The use of genetic engineering, particularly RNA interference (RNAi)-based approaches, appears as one of the most promising perspectives to introduce a durable resistance to PPV in peach germplasm, notwithstanding the well-known difficulties of in vitro plant regeneration in this species. In this regard, rootstock transformation to induce RNAi-mediated systemic resistance would avoid the transformation of numerous commercial cultivars, and may alleviate consumer resistance to the use of GM plants.
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DISAA), University of Milan Milan, Italy.
Marco
M
Cirilli
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DISAA), University of Milan Milan, Italy.
Filippo
F
Geuna
Phytosanitary Service, Regione Emilia-Romagna Bologna, Italy.
Anna R
AR
Babini
Department of Breeding, Genetic Resources and Biotechnology, Fruit-Growing Institute Plovdiv, Bulgaria.
Valentina
V
Bozhkova
Centro Interprofessionale per le Attività Vivaistiche Roma, Italy.
Luigi
L
Catalano
Phytosanitary Service, Regione Lombardia Milano, Italy.
Beniamino
B
Cavagna
INRA, UMR 385 BGPI Montpellier, France.
Sylvie
S
Dallot
INRA, Université de Bordeaux, UMR 1332 Biologie du Fruit et Pathologie Villenave d'Ornon, France.
Véronique
V
Decroocq
Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy.
Luca
L
Dondini
Centro Ricerche Produzioni Vegetali Cesena, Italy.
Stefano
S
Foschi
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria, Centro di Ricerca per la Patologia Vegetale Rome, Italy.
Vincenza
V
Ilardi
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria, Unità di Ricerca per la Frutticoltura di Forlì Forlì, Italy.
Alessandro
A
Liverani
Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali, Università Politecnica delle Marche Ancona, Italy.
Bruno
B
Mezzetti
Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante (CNR-IPSP) Bari, Italy.
Angelantonio
A
Minafra
Centro Attività Vivaistiche Faenza, Italy.
Marco
M
Pancaldi
Department of Biotechnology, University of Verona Verona, Italy.
Tiziana
T
Pandolfini
INRA, UR1052 GAFL Montfavet Cedex, France.
Thierry
T
Pascal
Dipartimento di Scienze del Suolo, della Pianta e degli Alimenti (DiSSPA), Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro Bari, Italy.
Vito N
VN
Savino
Appalachian Fruit Research Station, United States Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Kearneysville WV, USA.
Ralph
R
Scorza
Consiglio per la Ricerca in Agricoltura e l'Analisi dell'Economia Agraria, Centro di Ricerca per la Frutticoltura Rome, Italy.
Ignazio
I
Verde
Department of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (DISAA), University of Milan Milan, Italy.
Daniele
D
Bassi
PPV virus; Prunus persica (L.) Batsch; RNAi; fruit breeding; genetic engineering