Summary auto-generated
This study investigated why pre-acquisition fasting of aphids (Myzus persicae) enhances their transmission of tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV). Fasted aphids transmitted TEV significantly more efficiently than unfasted aphids whether acquiring virus from infected plants or purified virions. Both groups ingested similar amounts of labeled virus, but fasted aphids retained virus in their stylets at much higher rates (51% versus 8%), and transmission efficiency correlated closely with stylet retention. Critically, when aphids were reared on artificial diet lacking plant material, the fasting effect disappeared—both fasted and unfasted diet-reared aphids showed similarly high transmission rates comparable to plant-reared fasted aphids. These results suggest that non-fasted aphids carry plant-derived substances in their food canal that interfere with virion retention, and that fasting clears these interfering materials. The findings support a plant-origin hypothesis rather than previously proposed aphid-secretion mechanisms for the fasting effect.
Key findings
- Fasted aphids retained tobacco etch virus in stylets at 51% compared to 8% for unfasted aphids, with transmission rates closely correlating with stylet retention
- Both fasted and unfasted aphids ingested equal amounts of virus, ruling out differential uptake as the mechanism
- Artificial diet-reared aphids showed no difference in transmission between fasted and unfasted groups, indicating plant components in the food canal interfere with virus retention
- The interfering substances are likely plant-derived rather than from aphid secretions, since the fasting effect disappeared when aphids were removed from plant material
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Abstract
Aphids (Myzus persicae), fasted after removal from healthy rearing plants, transmitted tobacco etch potyvirus (TEV) more efficiently than unfasted aphids whether virus acquisition was from infected leaves or through membranes. There was no difference in uptake of 125I-labelled TEV by fasted or unfasted aphids as measured by liquid scintillation counting. When aphids acquired 125I-labelled TEV, label was retained in the stylets (as determined by autoradiographic light microscopy) by 51% of 272 fasted aphids, as against 7·8% of 258 unfasted aphids. There was a close correlation between virus transmission by aphids and virion retention in stylets. The effect of pre-acquisition fasting disappeared when aphids reared on an artificial diet were used in virus transmission tests. The transmission rates obtained with such aphids were similar to the rates with fasted aphids reared on healthy plants. Our results support the hypothesis that fasting eliminates plant component(s) which interfere with the retention of virions in the food canal of aphid stylets.