Ineractions between a mild and a severe strain of potato spindle tuber viroid in doubly infected potato plants

Potato (Solarium tuberosum) plants co-infected with a mild and a severe strain of potato spindle tuber viroid (PSTVd) were analyzed by return-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis for the presence of both strains in vegetative and reproductive plant parts. Both strains were detected in the anthers, flowers, inflorescences, leaves, ovaries, ovules, petals, pistils, roots, sepals, stolons and tubers. Only mild strain was detected from pollen in the cultivars tested. True potato seed (TPS) were not doubly infected when they were obtained from co-infected maternal parent plants pollinated with pollen from healthy plants. Also, when maternal plants infected with severe strain were pollinated with pollen from healthy plants or from those infected with the mild strain, TPS were not doubly infected. A small number of TPS with double infection was obtained when co-infected or mild-strain-infected plants were pollinated with pollen containing the severe strain (singly or doubly infected). The number of TPS containing mild strain predominated in a ratio of 7:1 over TPS containing the severe strain. This study indicates that segregation of strains from doubly-infected plants probably takes place during pollen formation and persists through seed development.