Interactions betweenPotato leafroll virus and potato plants and their implications for assessment of infection resistance

The effects of Potato leafroll virus (PLRV) isolates and inoculation method on the resistance to PLRV in potato clones and cultivars were investigated. In the season of inoculation, aphid inoculation resulted in higher proportions of infected plants and higher virus concentration in infected plants, as compared to graft inoculation. In these respects, grafting showed superiority over aphid inoculation in the tuber progeny of inoculated plants, though distinct dominance of aphid inoculation was observed for some tested clones. This leads to the conclusion that both methods should be applied as complementary tests for the efficient selection of highly resistant potato clones. For inoculations, two isolates of PLRV were applied, and one of them, isolate L7, was routinely used in screening breeding materials for resistance to the virus. The second isolate originated from plants of the highly resistant clone DW84-1457, which were incidentally infected with PLRV. The virus isolated from these plants was able to infect only specific clones, which were resistant to isolate L7. At the same time, potato clones with resistance derived from a source different from that present in DW84-1457, and standard susceptible and resistant cultivars, showed generally lower infection ratings after inoculation with the new isolate. This result suggests that the isolates may be different strains of PLRV. It is possible that under the strong selection pressure of resistance genes present in clone DW84-1457, a new isolate I-1457 could evolve the ability to overcome resistance to infection controlled by these genes.