Localization, Concentration, and Transmission Efficiency of Banana bunchy top virus in Four Asexual Lineages of Pentalonia aphids

Abstract

Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV) is the most destructive pathogenic virus of banana plants worldwide. The virus is transmitted in a circulative non-propagative manner by the banana aphid, Pentalonia nigronervosa Coquerel. In this work, we examined the localization, accumulation, and transmission efficiency of BBTV in four laboratory-established lineages of Pentalonia aphids derived from four different host plants: taro (Colocasia esculenta), heliconia (Heliconia spp.), red ginger (Alpinia purpurata), and banana (Musa sp.). Mitochondrial sequencing identified three and one lineages as Pentalonia caladii van der Goot, a recently proposed species, and P. nigronervosa, respectively. Microsatellite analysis separated the aphid lineages into four distinct genotypes. The transmission of BBTV was tested using leaf disk and whole-plant assays, both of which showed that all four lineages are competent vectors of BBTV, although the P. caladii from heliconia transmitted BBTV to the leaf disks at a significantly lower rate than did P. nigronervosa. The concentration of BBTV in dissected guts, haemolymph, and salivary glands was quantified by real-time PCR. The BBTV titer reached similar concentrations in the guts, haemolymph, and salivary glands of aphids from all four lineages tested. Furthermore, immunofluorescence assays showed that BBTV antigens localized to the anterior midguts and the principal salivary glands, demonstrating a similar pattern of translocations across the four lineages. The results reported in this study showed for the first time that P. caladii is a competent vector of BBTV.

Morphometric Analysis and Host Range of the Genus Pentalonia Coquerel (Hemiptera: Aphididae) Infesting Banana in Java

“…Pentalonia nigronervosa is the most important pest on banana and known as vector of Banana bunchy top virus (BBTV). This species plays an important role on the spread of banana bunchy top disease (Dale, 1987;Hu et al, 1996;Watanabe et al, 2013). Infection of BBTV has been reported on various banana genotypes in the world and resulted in 100% yield losses (Dale, 1987).…”

Real Time PCR Based Quantification of Banana Bunchy Top Virus (BBTV) Titre in Banana cv. Grand Naine (Musa acuminata)

“…Even though good correlation existed among the analyzed plants and disease symptoms, one plant in each showed deviation, which may be due to experimental error. Previous reports in BBTV DNA quantification also showed real time PCR as an effective and simple method for quantification of viral load [5,8]. The results showed that the symptomatic plants harboured more viral load which was the reason for symptom expression.…”

“…The Asian group comprises of the isolates from the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam. The South Pacific group includes India, Pakistan, Egypt, Australia, Burundi, Tonga, Myanmar, Fiji, and USA-Hawaii and isolates from Africa [5].…”

“…Earlier Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)-based method was employed for the detection of BBTV infection in banana [6,7]. Later methods for the quantification of BBTV through real-time PCR using SYBR Green or TaqMan chemistry were developed [5,8,9,10]. Aphid-mediated transmission is a standard method for the BBTV virus infection in banana.…”

Localization of Banana bunchy top virus and cellular compartments in gut and salivary gland tissues of the aphid vector Pentalonia nigronervosa

“…A colony of banana aphids, which was established from an individual aphid, was maintained on healthy potted banana plants. Aphid colonies were identified as P. nigronervosa using microsatellite markers (Watanabe et al ., ).…”