The recombinant isolate of cucurbit aphid‐borne yellows virus from Brazil is a polerovirus transmitted by whiteflies

Abstract

The severe yellowing disease (amarelão) on melon plants is a serious problem in Brazil, although the causative agent remained unknown for a long time. Recently, recombinant isolates of cucurbit aphid‐borne yellows virus (CABYV) were reported as the possible causative agents of this disease on melon plants. Although aphids are known to be the vectors of the common type of CABYV isolates, almost no aphid colony was observed in the major melon fields in Brazil with high incidence of the severe yellowing disease. In contrast, whiteflies are often abundant. Based on this observation, the hypothesis of the transmission of recombinant CABYV by whiteflies was evaluated. After thorough transmission experiments, we found that this recombinant CABYV isolate was transmitted by the whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1, but not by Aphis gossipii. Furthermore, the host response by whitefly‐based inoculation in cucurbits and other indicator plants showed differences in host range when compared to the common type of CABYV. Due to its transmissibility by the whitefly and the distant relationship of the P3/P5 protein to CABYV, the name “cucurbit whitefly‐borne yellows virus” is proposed for this recombinant CABYV. This is the second report of polerovirus transmission by the whitefly B. tabaci, following the report of pepper whitefly‐borne vein yellows virus.

Transmission of the Bean-Associated Cytorhabdovirus by the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1

“…B. tabaci is considered a super vector since it transmits over 300 plant viruses including begomoviruses (family Geminiviridae ), criniviruses (family Closteroviridae ), torradoviruses (family Secoviridae ), ipomoviruses (family Potyviridae ), and the carlaviruses CPMMV and melon yellowing-associated virus (MYaV) (family Betaflexiviridae [ 56 , 57 ]). Recently, two poleroviruses (family Luteoviridae ) were also shown to be transmitted by B. tabaci [ 58 , 59 ].…”

Molecular and Biological Characterization of a New World Mono-/Bipartite Begomovirus/Deltasatellite Complex Infecting Corchorus siliquosus

“…Many of the causal viruses are transmitted by whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), mainly by those belonging to the Bemisia tabaci cryptic species complex. Viruses known to be transmitted by whiteflies include members of the genera Begomovirus , Crinivirus , Ipomovirus , Torradovirus , and Carlavirus ( Navas-Castillo et al, 2011 ), and two poleroviruses (genus Polerovirus ) recently reported to be transmitted by B. tabaci ( Ghosh et al, 2019 ; Costa et al, 2020 ).…”

Assessing whitefly diversity to infer about begomovirus dynamics in cassava in Brazil

“…Aleurodicus dispersus and Aleurothrixus trachoides each transmit only one virus from the genera Ipomovirus and Begomovirus, respectively, while Trialeurodes vaporariorum and T. abutilonea transmit a few viruses included in the genera Crinivirus and Torradovirus. On the other hand, the Bemisia tabaci complex comprises one of the most important group of plant virus vectors, transmitting over 430 viruses, the majority included in the genus Begomovirus (12,16) but including also viruses classified in the genera Carlavirus, Crinivirus, Ipomovirus, Polerovrius and Torradovirus (12,(17)(18)(19)(20).…”