Combating sharka in European apricots
Sharka is a disease that affects stone fruit quality and yield. Researchers have previously made great advances in the development of PPV-resistant stone fruit plants, but more work remains to be done to beat sharka. The aim of the EU-funded MARS (Marker assisted resistance to sharka) project was to boost the production of PPV-resistant plants and to distribute them across the EU. Using guidelines established during earlier research, combined with new strategies to explore disease resistance, researchers identified the genetic factors that control PPV resistance. Once the genetic factors are known, they can be marked and used to select PPV-resistant plants. Scientists screened over 30 000 apricot plants for sharka resistance, about half of which carried favourable alleles linked to sharka resistance. MARS is now channelling these disease-resistant plants into apricot breeding programmes. Another aspect of the project looked at sharka-resistant plants without a known resistance gene. From this work, researchers identified new sources of resistance and developed methods to rapidly tag these new genetic determinants. The team conducted dissemination activities, targeting fruit producers, nurserymen and extension services, in order to promote the plantation and cultivation of PPV-resistant apricot cultivars developed by MARS partners. MARS enabled the efficient translation of marker-assisted selection to small and medium-sized enterprises and the implementation of high-throughput selection of PPV-resistant apricot cultivars adapted for cultivation all over Europe. This will contribute significantly to building efficient and durable resistance to sharka disease at the European level.
Keywords
Sharka, apricots, stone fruit, plum pox virus, MARS, marker-assisted selection
