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Inefficiency of ribavirin to eliminate apple scar skin viroid from apple plants

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Abstract

Apple scar skin viroid (ASSVd) is a major pathogen of apples that can result in significant economic losses in the apple industry. In this study, ASSVd- and apple stem grooving virus (ASGV)-infected Malus pumila ‘Spy 227’ apple plants were treated with ribavirin to determine its elimination efficiency. Ribavirin at 25 and 50 μg/mL (R25 and R50) did not inhibit ASSVd in apple plants regenerated from hydroponic culture. However, the elimination rates of ASGV in R25- and R50-treated plants were 50.0% and 53.3%, respectively. The ability of different concentrations of ribavirin (10, 20, and 30 μg/mL, R10, R20, and R30) to eliminate ASSVd and ASGV from in vitro plants was also evaluated. No phytotoxicity was observed during the treatment. Ribavirin increased the growth and proliferation of in vitro apple plants. The titers of ASSVd were similar throughout the treatment period, but ASGV declined. The concentration and duration of ribavirin also affected the regeneration of in vitro plants. The average survival rate of plants (80.8%) regenerated from R30 was similar to that of CK (82.5%) and was 14.2% and 16.3% higher than that of R10 and R20, respectively. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to assess the eradication efficiency of regenerated plants. The average elimination rates of ASSVd and ASGV were 1.6% and 78.7%, respectively. A low elimination rate of ASSVd was found in R30 (2.8%) at 45 days, and it was still less than 10% at the end of the treatment.

Key message

This study found that it was difficult for ribavirin to eliminate apple scar skin viroid from apple plants.

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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2019YFD1001800) and the Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Pomology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Xingcheng, 125100, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China

    Guojun Hu, Yafeng Dong, Zunping Zhang, Xudong Fan & Fang Ren

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  1. Guojun Hu
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  2. Yafeng Dong
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  3. Zunping Zhang
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Contributions

GJH and YFD conceived and designed the experiments. ZPZ collected the samples. FR conducted the experiments and analyzed the data. GJH and YFD discussed the results, and drafted and revised the manuscript. All authors approved the final draft of the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yafeng Dong.

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The authors indicate no competing financial interests.

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Communicated by Francisco de Assis Alves Mourão Filho.

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Hu, G., Dong, Y., Zhang, Z. et al. Inefficiency of ribavirin to eliminate apple scar skin viroid from apple plants. Plant Cell Tiss Organ Cult 151, 189–197 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11240-022-02344-y

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