Diverse amino acid changes at specific positions in the N-terminal region of the coat protein allow Plum pox virus to adapt to new hosts.

Plum pox virus (PPV)-D and PPV-R are two isolates from strain D of PPV that differ in host specificity. Previous analyses of chimeras originating from PPV-R and PPV-D suggested that the N terminus of the coat protein (CP) includes host-specific pathogenicity determinants. Here, these determinants were mapped precisely by analyzing the infectivity in herbaceous and woody species of chimeras containing a fragment of the 3' region of PPV-D (including the region coding for the CP) in a PPV-R backbone. These chimeras were not infectious in Prunus persica, but systemically infected Nicotiana clevelandii and N. benthamiana when specific amino acids were modified or deleted in a short 30-amino-acid region of the N terminus of the CP. Most of these mutations did not reduce PPV fitness in Prunus spp. although others impaired systemic infection in this host. We propose a model in which the N terminus of the CP, highly relevant for virus systemic movement, is targeted by a host defense mechanism in Nicotiana spp. Mutations in this short region allow PPV to overcome the defense response in this host but can compromise the efficiency of PPV systemic movement in other hosts such as Prunus spp.