Abstract
Increased light intensity has been predicted as a major consequence of climate change. Light intensity is a critical resource involved in many plant processes, including the interaction with viruses. A central question to plant–virus interactions is understanding the determinants of virus dispersal among plants. However, very little is known on the effect of environmental factors on virus transmission, particularly through seeds. The fitness of seed-transmitted viruses is highly dependent on host reproductive potential, and requires higher virus multiplication in reproductive organs. Thus, environmental conditions that favor reduced virus virulence without controlling its level of within-plant multiplication (i.e., tolerance) may enhance seed transmission. We tested the hypothesis that light intensity conditions that enhance plant tolerance promote virus seed transmission. To do so, we challenged 18 Arabidopsis thaliana accessions with Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV) and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV) under high and low light intensity. Results indicated that higher light intensity increased TuMV multiplication and/or plant tolerance, which was associated with more efficient seed transmission. Conversely, higher light intensity reduced plant tolerance and CMV multiplication, and had no effect on seed transmission. This work provides novel insights on how environmental factors modulate plant virus transmission and contributes to understand the underlying processes.
Highlights
Climate change is a multi-faceted phenomenon that entails increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere ( CO2 ), rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and higher light intensity [1]
No differences in the effect of virus infection on developmental traits was observed between allometric groups (Wald χ2 ≤ 1.06, p ≥ 0.302), except for UK1-Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV)-infected plants grown at low light intensity, for which GPi /GPm, RPi /RPm and LPi /LPm were larger in Group 2 than in
Accelerating rates of climate change are predicted to have an enormous impact on the relationships between organisms [5], including those established by causal agents of plant infectious diseases [7]
Summary
Climate change is a multi-faceted phenomenon that entails increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere ( CO2 ), rising temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, and higher light intensity [1]. Developed mathematical models predict that on-going climate change will result in higher prevalence of infectious diseases [26,27] These works proposed that variations in temperature and humidity will promote parasite plant-to-plant transmission (horizontal transmission) through effects on population dynamics of vectors that increase population sizes or biting rates [28–31]. Environmental conditions that favor reduced virus virulence without controlling its level of within-plant multiplication (by definition, tolerance) may enhance vertical transmission In this context, light may become a major determinant of virus transmission if increased light intensity results in higher tolerance as proposed by theoretical models [22,23]. To test the hypothesis that higher light intensity enhances virus seed transmission through modifications of plant tolerance, we utilized Turnip mosaic virus (TuMV, Potyviridae) and Cucumber mosaic virus (CMV, Bromoviridae), and Arabidopsis thaliana (from here on “Arabidopsis”, Brassicaceae) Both viruses are commonly found in wild populations of Arabidopsis at up to 80% prevalence [41], indicating that the Arabidopsis–TuMV and Arabidopsis–CMV interactions are significant in nature. Virus seed transmission, and (iv) if these associations depend on light intensity
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