Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) has become an important viral disease of greenhouse tomatoes worldwide. The ability of bumble-bees (Bombus impatiens), used for pollination, to acquire and transmit PepMV was investigated, and the prevalence of PepMV in plants and bumble-bees in commercial tomato greenhouses was determined. PepMV infection in plants was determined using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay, while in bumble-bees direct real-time PCR was used. In the first experiment, the bumble-bees were exposed for 14 days to PepMV-infected plants. After 14 days, almost all bumble-bees were PepMV positive both in the hive (78.5 AE 17.5%) and in the flowers (96.3 AE 3.6%). In the second experiment, bumble-bees were released into a greenhouse with both PepMV-infected source plants and healthy non-infected target plants for 14 days. At the end of the experiment, 61.0 AE 19.5% of the bees collected from the hive and 83.3 AE 16.7% of the bees sampled from the flowers were PepMV positive. Bumble-bees transmitted PepMV from the infected to the healthy noninfected tomato plants. Two weeks after bumble-bee release, the virus was detected in leaf, fruit and flower samples of formerly healthy plants. After 6 weeks, the percentage of PepMV positive samples from the target plants increased to 52.8 AE 2.8% of the leaves and 80.6 AE 8.4% of the fruits. In the control greenhouse without bumble-bees, the target plants did not become infected. Based on the infection levels in flowers, fruits and leaves, the PepMV infection occurred possibly first in the pollinated flowers, and then spread from the fruit that developed from the flowers to other parts of the plant. In commercial greenhouses where PepMV was present, 92-100% of the plants and 88-100% of the bumble-bees were PepMV positive. No infected plant samples were found in the control commercial greenhouse, but a small number of bumble-bees (10%) tested PepMV positive.
Phytoplasmas are bacterial plant pathogens consisting of more than 50 phylogenetic groups that cause devastating diseases in various crops worldwide. They are obligate parasites restricted to the phloem tissue of the host plant and are transmitted from plant to plant mostly by leafhoppers (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae). They reproduce within the tissues of their insect vectors and are transferred in the salivary secretions to new host plants during feeding. Phytoplasma epidemiology involves a tritrophic relationship between the pathogen and usually several hosts and vectors. The host-plant range depends on the number of vectors, their feeding habits, and their dispersal pattern. Interactions between phytoplasmas and their vector hosts are complex and influenced by insects' vectoring abilities and the consequences of infection for vectors. In Canada, seven phytoplasma taxa have been detected in various crops. Aster yellows, the primary vector of which is the leafhopper Macrosteles quadrilineatus (Forbes), is the most common and widespread. X-disease, transmitted by at least eight leafhopper species, is economically damaging to all cultivated species of Prunus L. (Rosaceae). Clover proliferation, also transmitted by M. quadrilineatus, is the causal agent of important diseases such as clover proliferation and alfalfa witches' broom. Ash yellows and pear decline have caused economic problems for several decades, while bois noir, a quarantinable disease in Canada, was detected in Ontario and British Columbia for the first time only recently. Because of their cryptic nature, phytoplasmas are difficult to manage; quarantine measures and insecticide sprays remain the most common control measures. However, integrated pest management techniques using beneficial insects, biotechnology, and plant resistance are emerging.
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