Abstract
The cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV) has caused serious damage to melon crops in many countries in recent years. This plant virus is exclusively transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) in a semi-persistent mode. Previous studies have shown that both persistent and non-persistent viruses can affect the orientation and performance of insect vectors, through changing host phenotype or interacting with insect vectors directly to facilitate the spread of viruses. However, how CCYV affects host-plant selection by B. tabaci has not been reported. In this study, we investigated the visual and olfactory preferences of B. tabaci between healthy and CCYV-infected host plants Cucumis sativus (Cucurbitaceae). Volatile profiles of healthy and CCYV-infected C. sativus plants were analyzed using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). In the choice assay, whiteflies preferred to settle on CCYV-infected C. sativus seedlings. However, the concentrations of total volatiles and terpenes in C. sativus plants decreased after CCYV infection. Interestingly, in the Y-tube assay and vision preference test, whitefly B. tabaci adults showed significant visual preference to CCYV-infected host but showed olfactory preference to healthy plants. These results indicated that CCYV infection in plants differently affected the visual and olfactory-mediated orientation behaviors of vector whiteflies and implied that visual cues could play a more important role than olfactory cues in whiteflies in locating CCYV-infected host plants.
Highlights
More than 80% of plant viruses are dependent on vectors for spread (Bak et al, 2017)
Choice assay of whitefly B. tabaci showed that, 5 h after insect releasing, the percentages of B. tabaci selecting CCYVinfected plants were significantly higher than that for healthy plants (Figure 3), and both viruliferous and non-viruliferous B. tabaci adults preferred to settle on chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV)-infected host plants
We found that visual cues play dominant roles in B. tabaci orientation to CCYV-infected cucumber plants
Summary
More than 80% of plant viruses are dependent on vectors for spread (Bak et al, 2017). Based on the retention sites and period of virions within insect vectors, plant viruses are classified into persistent, semi-persistent, and non-persistent transmission modes (Mauck et al, 2018). The persistent viruses are retained in salivary glands, the semi-persistent viruses are retained in the foregut, while the non-persistent viruses bind to stylets (Ng and Falk, 2006; Jia et al, 2018). CCYV is transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) in the semipersistent mode (Li et al, 2016). B. tabaci transmits more than 200 plant viruses (Chen et al, 2019; Henrique et al, 2019; Chi et al, 2020). Q biotype (MED, Mediterranean) and B biotype (MEAM1, Middle East-Asia Minor 1) are the two biotypes of B. tabaci dominating in China (Wu et al, 2002; Chu et al, 2010; Teng et al, 2010)
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