ISHS Acta Horticulturae 367: VI International Symposium on Pear Growing
ELIMINATION OF VIRUSES FROM CLONAL PEAR GERMPLASM |
| Author: | Joseph D. Postman |
| Abstract:
About half of 1160 pear cultivars (35% of all 1800 clonal accessions) received at the USDA-ARS National Clonal Germplasm Repository (NCGR) were infected with one or more viruses. A combination of heat therapy and meristem shoot-tip culture was used to eliminate viruses from infected Pyrus clones. Virus infected plants were grown at temperatures alternating every 4 hours between 30 and 38 C. After 21 or more days, meristems (<1mm) from elongating shoot tips were dissected and grown in vitro. Pear vein yellows and/or ringpattern mosaic virus were successfully eliminated from 97% of plants derived from these meristems. The viruses were eliminated from 83% of plants produced from shoot tips (5mm) which were not grown in vitro. Nearly 400 pear clones have been freed of virus infections at the repository. Virus negative clones, either produced at the repository or received from other sources, now comprise 82% of NCGR clonal Pyrus accessions. A reference collection of pome fruit viruses is maintained. | |
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