Viral diseases are one of the major limiting factors for stone fruit cultivation. In the case of the apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.), the disease menacing their culture is "Sharka", caused by Plum pox virus (PPV), belonging to the Potyvirus genus within the family Potyviridae.

Most European apricot varieties tested to date, including the Spanish ones, have been described as susceptible to PPV, while some American varieties have been found resistant. Therefore the development of new varieties resistant to PPV and adapted to cultivation in Spain is one of the main objectives in apricot breeding.

However, despite the fact that resistance to PPV has been studied for many years, the genetic control and molecular basis of this resistance are unknown. In this communication, the different approaches used in the study of PPV resistance in apricot will be analyzed and discussed including the:

• Phenotypic: evaluation of plant-virus interaction in controlled and natural conditions;
• Genetic: mode of inheritance of PPV resistance in apricot;
• Proteomic: proteins involved in the interaction PPV-apricot;
• Transcriptomic: gene expression analysis of the resistance in apricot;
• Genomic: DNA regions responsible for PPV resistance in apricot