Plum Pox Virus - Plum Tree Plum Pox Virus (PPV) Disease

Scientific Name: Potyviruses: Potyviridae
Common Names: Plum Pox, PPV, Sharka, Sharka Disease

There are currently four known strains of PPV:

PPV-D: Found in peach, plum, apricot and nectarine.
As of March 2008, only PPV-D has been found in North America.
PPV-M: Found in peach, plum, apricot and nectarine. Attacks peach more aggressively than other stone fruit species, is more effectively transferred by aphids, and is thought to be able to be transferred through seed.
PPV-EA: Found in peach.
PPV-C: Found in sour and sweet cherry.
Known Hosts:
Prunus species, including almond, apricot, cherry (sweet and tart), nectarine, peach, pear, plum, and wild species. In addition, more than 30 different annual, perennial, and woody species from nine different plant families have been found to be naturally infected with PPV or have been artificially infected in the lab. Susceptibility is dependent on the host and on the viral strain.

Massachusetts Introduced Pests Outreach Project is a collaboration between the Massachusetts Dept. of Agricultural Resources and the UMass Extension Agriculture and Landscape Program. This website was made possible, in part, by a Cooperative Agreement from the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). It may not necessarily express APHIS' views.