Effects of melon yellow spot orthotospovirus infection on the preference and developmental traits of melon thrips, Thrips palmi, in cucumber.

Shuhei Adachi-Fukunaga,Tamito Sakurai,Yasuhiro Tomitaka,Yulin Gao

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0233722

Shuhei Adachi-Fukunaga, Tamito Sakurai + Show 2 more

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https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0233722

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Abstract

Melon yellow spot orthotospovirus (MYSV), a member of the genus Orthotospovirus, is an important virus in cucurbits. Thrips palmi is considered the most serious pest of cucurbits because it directly damages and indirectly transmits MYSV to the plant. The effects of MYSV-infected plants on the development time, fecundity, and preference of the thrips were analyzed in this study. Our results showed that the development time of male and female thrips did not differ significantly between MYSV-infected and non-infected cucumbers. The survival rate of thrips in non-infected and MYSV-infected cucumbers were not significantly different. In a non-choice assay, T. palmi adults were released on non-infected and MYSV-infected cucumbers and allowed to lay eggs. The number of hatched larvae did not significantly differ between non-infected and MYSV-infected cucumbers. In a choice assay, MYSV had no detectable effect on the number of adult thrips and preceding hatched larvae. In a pull assay, the settling rate of thrips on the released plant did not differ significantly when the adult thrips were released to non-infected or MYSV infected cucumbers for any cucumber cultivar. Based on our results, we propose that the effects of MYSV-infected cucumbers on the development time, fecundity, or preference of T. palmi may not be an important factor in MYSV spread between cucumbers.

Highlights

Orthotospoviruses are species in the genus Orthotospovirus of the family Tospoviridae, and are transmitted by insect vectors, namely thrips, in a persistent, propagative manner [1, 2, 3]
We mainly examined the indirect effects of Melon yellow spot orthotospovirus (MYSV) on T. palmi
Our results indicated that MYSV did not indirectly affect the development, oviposition, mobility, and preference of T. palmi in cucumber

Summary

Introduction

Orthotospoviruses are species in the genus Orthotospovirus of the family Tospoviridae, and are transmitted by insect vectors, namely thrips, in a persistent, propagative manner [1, 2, 3]. Melon yellow spot orthotospovirus (MYSV), a member of the genus Orthotospovirus, is an important virus in cucurbits and falls into the Asian group. Effects of MYSV on T. palmi behavior. MYSV mainly damages cucurbit crops such as watermelons (Citrullus lanatus Thunb.), wax gourds (Benincasa hispida Thunb.), netted melons MYSV causes necrotic spots, yellowing, and mosaic symptoms, followed by loss of productivity and quality [6, 9, 10, 11]. It is difficult to control MYSV because it infects cucurbits and weeds [12]

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