Plum pox, also known as sharka, is the most devastating viral disease of stone fruit from the genus Prunus.

Plum pox poses no danger to consumers, but it can ruin the marketability of stone fruit by causing acidity and deformities.

The disease developed and spread in several European countries, and may have largely wiped out the ancient landrace variously called Pozegaca, Quetsche, or German prune.

[1] There are nine strains of plum pox virus: PPV-D, PPV-M, PPV-EA, PPV-C, PPV-Rec (Recombinant), PPV-W, PPV-T, PPV-CR, and PPV-An.

PPV-M isolates are more aggressive in peach, are aphid vectored more efficiently, and spread more rapidly in an orchard.

[7] Genetic analysis also confirmed the very high identity of Ma, Mb, and MIs variants at 836 bp P3-6K1-CI region.

Long distance spread usually occurs as a result of the movement of infected nursery stock or propagative materials.

Several cultivars show yellowing line patterns and blotches, or necrotic ring symptoms on expanded leaves.

The transgenic plum expresses a plum pox virus coat protein, the plant produces the coat protein mRNA and it is processed by a system called post transcriptional gene silencing (PTGS), which functions like the plants' immune system and is mechanistically similar to RNAi.

The Canadian Food Inspection Agency put into effect quarantine zones throughout Southern Ontario in a bid to prevent the spread of PPV.

Host preference of the major strains of Plum pox virus—Opinions based on regional and world-wide sequence data N Sihelská Journal of Integrative Agriculture 16(3):510 Elsevier 2017 2095-3119