Abstract
Viroids are small plant pathogens that do not encode proteins. Despite their simple structure, viroids can cause serious metabolic and developmental disorders in plants, leading to a various of symptoms, as well as a decrease in yield and product quality. The diagnosis of viroids is especially relevant for fruit crops, since infections are often asymptomatic in the early stages.
This study presents the results of simultaneous detection of Hop stunt viroid (HSVd) and Peach latent mosaic viroid (PLMVd) in stone fruit crops. Leaf samples from peach trees showing clinical signs of viroid infection were collected from the Nauryzbai district of Almaty city. By reverse transcription followed by duplex polymerase chain reaction (duplex RT-PCR) using specific primers designed in this study, HSVd and PLMVd RNAs were detected in a number of samples, and the presence of RNAs of both viroids was shown in one sample. Subsequently, amplicons were purified, which were then sequenced by Sanger to determine the nucleotide sequences of both viroids. BLAST analysis confirmed the presence of HSVd and PLMVd. These results indicate the circulation of HSVd and PLMVd in the Almaty region. This highlights the necessity of introducing regular viroid diagnostics in stone fruit crops in Kazakhstan
01 Introduction
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02 References
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