Abstract
Discovering mechanisms of plant–virus–vector interactions is fundamental to understand their ecology and evolution and to apply this knowledge in plant protection. To study the influence of varying Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) transmission efficiencies on host plant preference of Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) clones, we performed host choice experiments with two barley cultivars (BYDV susceptible cv. ‘Rubina’ and BYDV tolerant cv. ‘Vixen’) including healthy and virus-infected plants. For the susceptible barley cultivar ‘Rubina’, aphid clone R07 (high transmission efficiency) preferred BYDV-infected over healthy host plants after 24 h, while clones D10 (medium transmission efficiency) and R09 (low transmission efficiency) preferred neither host. In contrast, BYDV infection of ‘Vixen’ did not affect the plant’s appeal for aphid clone R07. Host plant access, indicated by ingestion and observed by electrical penetration graph technique for a period of 2 h, was facilitated on BYDV-infected cv. ‘Rubina’ for the clones R07 and D10, whereas an opposite effect was observed for the clone R09. For R07 and R09, the difference was not visible after a period of 5 h. As observed earlier for BYDV-infected wheat, enhanced emission of volatile organic compounds associated with virus-induced attraction was detected for BYDV-infected cv. ‘Rubina.’ It is concluded that host plant preference is possibly linked with a high BYDV transmission efficiency as observed for the clone R07, leading to a fitness advantage of this clone as indicated by early increased ingestion. This advantage is not present on BYDV-tolerant genotypes most likely due to the absence of infection symptoms.
Highlights
The interactions between plants, plant viruses and arthropod virus vectors are multitrophic and complex
We studied healthy and Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV)-infected susceptible and tolerant barley genotypes with three selected R. padi clones, differing in their ability to transmit BYDV, to answer two questions: (i) Does breeding-based BYDV tolerance of a barley genotype influence the host choice of R. padi between healthy and BYDV-infected plants?
Jiménez-Martínez et al (2004a) have shown that virus-susceptible wheat plants infected with BYDV are more suitable as hosts for R. padi than non-infected plants, leading to shorter development times of the aphids
Summary
The interactions between plants, plant viruses and arthropod virus vectors are multitrophic and complex. One aspect is that virus infection changes plant physiology which affects the biology of insect vectors Positive vector responses such as attraction to virusinfected plants may be advantageous for the virus by promoting its spread as has been shown for the interaction of different aphid species with plants infected by persistently transmitted and phloem-located viruses (summarized in Dáder et al 2017). Another aspect is that the efficiency of virus transmission can differ significantly between clones within a species, as has been shown for Rhopalosiphum padi and Sitobion avenae and the Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) (Habekuss et al 1999; Bencharki et al 2000). Subsequent work of Jiménez-Martínez et al (2004b) and Medina-Ortega et al (2009) showed that non-viruliferous R. padi preferred the odor of susceptible BYDV-infected wheat cultivars over healthy plants, whereas there was no preference for a transgenically modified tolerant wheat line
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