Abstract
Persistent plant viruses, by altering phenotypic and physiological traits of their hosts, could modulate the host preference and fitness of hemipteran vectors. A majority of such modulations increase vector preference for virus-infected plants and improve vector fitness, ultimately favouring virus spread. Nevertheless, it remains unclear how these virus-induced modulations on vectors vary temporally, and whether host resistance to the pathogen influences such effects. This study addressed the two questions using a Begomovirus-whitefly-tomato model pathosystem. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) -susceptible and TYLCV-resistant tomato genotypes were evaluated by whitefly-mediated transmission assays. Quantitative PCR revealed that virus accumulation decreased after an initial spike in all genotypes. TYLCV accumulation was less in resistant than in susceptible genotypes at 3, 6, and 12 weeks post inoculation (WPI). TYLCV acquisition by whiteflies over time from resistant and susceptible genotypes was also consistent with virus accumulation in the host plant. Furthermore, preference assays indicated that non-viruliferous whiteflies preferred virus-infected plants, whereas viruliferous whiteflies preferred non-infected plants. However, this effect was prominent only with the susceptible genotype at 6 WPI. The development of whiteflies on non-infected susceptible and resistant genotypes was not significantly different. However, developmental time was reduced when a susceptible genotype was infected with TYLCV. Together, these results suggest that vector preference and development could be affected by the timing of infection and by host resistance. These effects could play a crucial role in TYLCV epidemics.
Highlights
Phytoviruses transmitted persistently often tend to alter the phenotypic and physiological traits of their host plants making them more suitable to their arthropod vectors, hemipterans [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]
Regardless of the genotype, the copy numbers were greater at 3 weeks post inoculation than at 6 and 12 weeks post inoculation
Previous research has shown that semi-dominant genes such as Ty-1 confer resistance to Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) by limiting symptom expression and restricting virus accumulation [38, 40, 44]
Summary
Phytoviruses transmitted persistently often tend to alter the phenotypic and physiological traits of their host plants making them more suitable to their arthropod vectors, hemipterans [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. Studies that documented host-mediated virus-induced effects on vector preference and/or fitness were, more often than not, conducted using expressive hosts or hosts that display flamboyant symptoms upon virus infection [8,9,10,11,13,14,18]. It is unclear if such observed effects on vector preference and/or fitness would be noticeable in not-so expressive hosts, including host genotypes that exhibit resistance to the pathogen.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.