Plant virus-induced changes in aphid population development and temporal fluctuations in plant nutrients

Abstract

Cucurbita pepo plants were infected with zucchini yellow mosaic virus or maintained noninfected.Aphis gossypii, which transmits the virus, lived longer and produced more offspring on infected than on noninfected plants. On infected plants, the intrinsic rate of natural increase forA. gossypii increased with time after inoculation. In a similar experiment, concentrations of phloem sap nutrients, including free amino acids, total protein, and sugars from infected and noninfected plants were compared for 37 days after inoculation. Significant differences in levels of individual amino acids from phloem exudate between infected and noninfected plants were found, yet the concentration of total amino acids was not substantially different between infected and noninfected plants. Beginning four days after inoculation, the total protein content of phloem exudate generally was lower in infected plants than noninfected plants. Likewise, the total sugar content of phloem exudate from infected plants was lower than that of noninfected plants beginning nine days after inoculation. In contrast with the results from analyses of phloem exudate, foliage from infected plants had higher levels of almost all amino acids than noninfected foliage beginning nine days after inoculation. Concentrations of individual and total amino acids in infected foliage increased throughout the experimental period. Although no temporal effects were observed in the foliage sugar content for either individual or total sugars, starch content decreased with time in infected plants, while in noninfected plants, starch content remained level.