ADP ribosylation factor 1 facilitates spread of wheat dwarf virus in its insect vector

Abstract

Many plant viruses are vectored by insects in a persistent circulative manner. The insect gut and salivary gland are important barriers limiting virus spread, but the mechanisms by which viruses are able to cross the gut escape barriers of the insect remain largely unknown. Wheat dwarf virus (WDV), transmitted by Psammotettix alienus in a persistent, circulative, and nonpropagative manner, causes the most economically important virus disease in wheat. In this study, ADP ribosylation factor 1 (ARF1) was found to interact with the coat protein of WDV in a yeast two-hybrid, pull-down assay and to colocalise with virions in the gut and salivary glands of P. alienus. When transcription of ARF1 was suppressed by RNA interference, the WDV titre decreased in the haemolymph and salivary glands, and transmission efficiency decreased, but titre in the gut did not differ from that of the control. These data suggest that ARF1 of P. alienus binds to the WDV virion and helps virus spread from gut to haemolymph. Our study provides direct experimental evidence that WDV can use the existing membrane trafficking mechanism to aid its spread within the insect vector. This first analysis of the molecular interaction between WDV and its vector P. alienus contributes to understanding the mechanisms involved in circulative transmission of the virus by the leafhopper vector.

Comparative transcriptome analysis in Triticum aestivum infecting wheat dwarf virus reveals the effects of viral infection on phytohormone and photosynthesis metabolism pathways

“…Symptoms of WDD typically include extremely dwarfed plant height, yellowing or streaking on leaves, and even failure of heading (Lindblad and Sigvald 2004). WDD is caused by the wheat dwarf virus (WDV), which is transmitted in a persistent manner by the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus (Vacke 1961;Wang et al 2019a). WDV belongs to the genus Mastrevirus in the family Geminiviridae and its genome comprises of a monopartite, single-stranded (ss), circular DNA (Gutierrez 1999).…”

Insights Into Insect Vector Transmission and Epidemiology of Plant-Infecting Fijiviruses

“…(c) Global climate warming, organic farming methods to reduce the use of pesticides, and the commercialization of genetically modified crops that are resistant to lepidopterans or beetles may indirectly lead to the changes of planthopper population and the outbreaks of fijiviruses. Similar works have been done for other virus-vector insect systems (Wei and Li, 2016;Qin et al, 2018;Wang et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2020), but whether these results also apply to fijiviruses and their vector insects needs to be determined.…”

RNA N6‐methyladenosine modification suppresses replication of rice black streaked dwarf virus and is associated with virus persistence in its insect vector

“…Usually, these adverse or beneficial changes are due to the changes of physiological and metabolic components in host plants caused by virus–plant interactions, rather than direct effects caused by the virus infection in vector insects (Di Feo et al, 2010 ; Zhang et al, 2014 ). Our long‐term observations indicate that viruliferous SBPHs reared on healthy rice plants develop well and retain and transmit virus throughout their life (Hajano et al, 2015 ; Qin et al, 2018 ; Wang et al, 2019 ; Wu et al, 2019 ).…”