Suitability of different plant species for experimental agroinfection with Plum pox virus-based expression vector for potential production of edible vaccines.

Nine herbaceous plant species were tested for susceptibility to Plum pox virus (PPV) by Agrobacterium-mediated delivery of its infectious cDNA clone. Two of them became infected, namely spinach (local infection) and oilseed poppy (systemic infection). As a control, PPV infection was successfully established in plum seedlings following agroinfiltration, thus providing the first report of agroinfection in Prunus species.

The 3'-proximal part of the Plum pox virus P1 gene determinates the symptom expression in two herbaceous host plants.

Three major strains of the Plum pox virus (PPV) are the most important in Europe: PPV-D, PPV-M, and PPV-Rec. By combining the genomes of two different strains of PPV (PPV-D with PPV-Rec; PPV-D with PPV-M), 20 inter-strain chimeric infectious clones (CICPPV) were constructed. Biological properties of CICPPV were tested by inoculating them on different herbaceous host species susceptible to PPV.