Plum pox virus genome expression in genetically engineered RNAi plants

An important approach to controlling sharka disease, caused by Plum pox virus (PPV), is the development of PPV-resistant plants using small interfering RNA (siRNA) technology. In order to evaluate siRNA-induced gene silencing, we studied the PPV genome sequence virus genome translation and replication. While little is known about interference of the PPV genome in plums, the present manuscript provides evidence that interfering RNA acts with the dicer plant-enzyme complex to induce its degradation into siRNAs