Abstract
Potato virus Y (PVY) is a serious threat to potato production due to effects on tuber yield and quality, in particular, due to induction of potato tuber necrotic ringspot disease (PTNRD), typically associated with recombinant strains of PVY. These recombinant strains have been spreading in the U.S. for the past several years, although the reasons for this continuing spread remained unclear. To document and assess this spread between 2011 and 2015, strain composition of PVY isolates circulating in the Columbia Basin potato production area was determined from hundreds of seed lots of various cultivars. The proportion of non-recombinant PVYO isolates circulating in the Columbia Basin potato dropped nine-fold during this period, from 63% of all PVY-positives in 2011 to less than 7% in 2015. This drop in PVYO was concomitant with the rise of the recombinant PVYN-Wi strain incidence, from less than 27% of all PVY-positives in 2011 to 53% in 2015. The proportion of the PVYNTN recombinant strain, associated with PTNRD symptoms in susceptible cultivars, increased from 7% in 2011 to ca. 24% in 2015. To further address the shift in strain abundance, screen-house experiments were conducted and revealed that three of the four most popular potato cultivars grown in the Columbia Basin exhibited strain-specific resistance against PVYO. Reduced levels of systemic movement of PVYO in such cultivars would favor spread of recombinant strains in the field. The negative selection against the non-recombinant PVYO strain is likely caused by the presence of the Nytbr gene identified in potato cultivars in laboratory experiments. Presence of strain-specific resistance genes in potato cultivars may represent the driving force changing PVY strain composition to predominantly recombinant strains in potato production areas.