Performance of Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 and Trialeurodes vaporariorum on Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV) infected plants

Abstract

Whiteflies are important agricultural pests of several crops and cause great economic losses, mainly by the transmission of plant viruses. Among the different species of whiteflies, Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (B biotype) transmit the crinivirus Tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV). Previous studies report that virus‐infected plants can influence the attractiveness and the behaviour of different species of whiteflies. In this study, we evaluated the number of eggs, egg hatching rate and emergence of adults of both T. vaporariorum and B. tabaci MEAM1 on ToCV‐infected and healthy tomatoes. In addition, ToCV transmission assays were conducted with both whitefly species. ToCV infection did not influence the number of eggs or egg hatching rate of T. vaporariorum; whereas the emergence of adults was reduced by 37.3% on ToCV‐infected tomatoes. By contrast, ToCV‐infected tomatoes strongly affected the B. tabaci MEAM1 egg hatching rate and emergence of adults with reductions of 41.8% and 92.4%, respectively. Regarding virus transmission, T. vaporariorum transmitted ToCV with lower efficiency (35.7%) than B. tabaci MEAM1 (78.6%). Our data suggest that the performance of T. vaporariorum is less affected than that of B. tabaci MEAM1 when feeding on ToCV‐infected tomato plants.

Tomato Chlorosis Virus Infection Facilitates Bemisia tabaci MED Reproduction by Elevating Vitellogenin Expression

“…This results can explain why B. tabaci MED has replaced MEAM1 in the past decade in China. However, ToCV infection did not influence the number of eggs laid by Trialeurodes vaporariorum [ 16 , 34 , 35 ]. Previous research confirmed the B. tabaci MED fecundity affected by the semi-persistent virus, ToCV [ 16 , 36 , 37 ], which is consistent with our observation.…”

Tomato chlorosis virus, an emergent plant virus still expanding its geographical and host ranges

“…Thus, according to Shi et al (), B. tabaci MED adults performed better on infected plants while according to Li et al (), they performed worst. On the other hand, B. tabaci MEAM1 adults performed similarly on infected and healthy plants according to Shi et al () and Maluta et al (), while they performed worst on infected plants according to Watanabe et al (). Although the effects of plant pathogens on the behaviour and biological performance of their vectors have been shown for different host–pathogen–vector combinations, from the available studies carried out with ToCV it is clear that additional research is needed to correctly understand the interactions between the virus, the plant host and whiteflies, and their further epidemiological implications.…”

Evaluation of Datura stramonium and Nicandra physaloides as reservoirs of tomato severe rugose virus and whiteflies

“…Additionally, nonviruliferous MED preferred to settle on ToCV‐infected plants and viruliferous MED preferred to settle on healthy ones, contributing to the virus spreading (Shi et al , ). A study from Brazil showed that ToCV is harmful for MEAM1, and dramatically decreases its adult emergence and survival rates (Watanabe et al , ). These results help to explain the interaction between whiteflies and plants infected with viruses, in which each whitefly species has different behaviour according to the virus and host plant.…”

“…Weed plants can thus easily serve as alternative hosts for several begomoviruses in the absence of tomato crops, and can also contribute to begomovirus variability, as the same plant can be infected by several virus species, contributing to the occurrence of recombination and rearrangements (García‐Arenal and Zerbini, ). Moreover, the performance of whiteflies can be improved on virus‐infected plants, with increased reproduction and survival rates, which can lead to faster and more efficient virus spread (Chen et al , ; Shrestha et al , ; Watanabe et al , ).…”