Resistance in Solanum brevidens to both potato virus Y and potato virus X may be associated with slow cell-to-cell spread.

A series of experiments was carried out to investigate the nature of the resistance of the wild potato species, Solanum brevidens, to potato virus X (PVX) and potato virus Y (PVY). In vitro inoculation of leaf protoplasts of S. brevidens and the virus-susceptible dihaploid S. tuberosum genotype PDH40 with PVX or PVY using polyethylene glycol showed that protoplasts of both species were similar in susceptibility. However, examination of protoplasts prepared from the leaves of S. tuberosum and S. brevidens inoculated 2 to 5 weeks earlier showed that the percentage of PVX- and PVY-infected leaf cells of S. tuberosum were, respectively, 45- to 100-fold and about 1000-fold greater than the percentage of infected leaf cells of S. brevidens. These results suggest that resistance in S. brevidens to both PVX and PVY could be associated with slow cell-to-cell spread rather than with slow virus replication.