Thrips as vectors of tospoviruses

The Plant Virus Tomato Spotted Wilt Tospovirus Activates the Immune System of Its Main Insect Vector, Frankliniella occidentalis

“…Tospoviruses, the only plant-infecting members of the family Bunyaviridae, also infect their insect vectors, including Frankliniella occidentalis Pergande (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), the western flower thrips (WFT). The WFT is a diminutive insect that constitutes a serious pest on its own and is considered the most important tospovirus vector given its global distribution and capacity to transmit most tospoviruses (48,49). No detrimental effects on the life cycle or cytopathological changes have been found in the WFT after TSWV infection, and a relatively low virus titer is found in the insect body, with the exception of the salivary glands, even several days after infection (49,52).…”

“…Both nonstructural proteins are detected in infected insect cells or tissues and have served as markers of virus infection in the WFT (30,42,47). TSWV infection in the WFT occurs after feeding on infected plants during the larval stages (49). Only WFT larvae are susceptible to TSWV infection and subsequent acquisition (uptake and ability to transmit the virus).…”

Variations of Incidence, Types of Virus Diseases and Insect Vector Populations of Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.), Grown in Different Agroecological Regions of Sri Lanka under Two Crop Management Systems

“…Tomato leaves showing typical TSWVD symptoms (Ullman et al, 2002) Tomato leaves showing TSWVD symptoms in the present study TSWV-infected plants were differentiated based on the small, light brown flecks that first appeared on leaves and turned brown later with a general browning of leaves at the end (Fig. 6).…”

Field isolates ofTomato spotted wilt virusovercoming resistance in capsicum in Australia

“…The genome of TSWV is composed of three singlestranded RNA segments, large (L), medium (M) and small (S), closely associated with virus-encoded nucleocapsid (N) protein and enveloped in a lipid membrane carrying two types of glycoprotein (Ullman et al 2002). The nucleoprotein and the precursor to the glycoproteins are encoded on the viral complementary strand of the S and M RNAs, respectively.…”

“…All tospoviruses are transmitted by thrips in a propagative manner with 11 species being confirmed as vectors of TSWV (Ullman et al 2002;Persley et al 2006). Global spread of the efficient thrips vector Frankliniella occidentalis has been a major factor in the increased importance of TSWV in many countries in recent years (Prins and Goldbach 1998).…”