How does PMV®-01 work?

The PMV®-01 vaccination strategy is based on the principle of cross-protection, a well-known mechanism in plant virology. At a first infection with the Pepino Mosaic Virus, the plant’s immune system is activated. Afterwards when the plant gets into contact again with the same virus , the plant’s immune system recognizes the virus and goes into action. As a result, the virus that causes the infection pressure will be eliminated by the plant itself.

The higher the level of genetic similarity between the virus causing the first infection and the virus causing the infection pressure afterwards, the more efficiently the mechanism will work. The active substance of PMV®-01 contains a mild isolate of the Chilean PepMV strain. This mild and stable Chilean isolate quickly installs itself in all the parts of the plant, so that the immune system will be activated in the entire crop 4 to 6 weeks after vaccination. After this period the plant is protected against future attacks of aggressive PepMV-isolates. Moreover, the mild isolate causes no symptoms on the fruits and has no effect on production, nor on quality.