Transmission of Diverse Variants of Strawberry Viruses Is Governed by a Vector Species

Abstract

Advances in high-throughput sequencing methods have boosted the discovery of multistrain viral infections in diverse plant systems. This phenomenon appears to be pervasive for certain viral species. However, our knowledge of the transmission aspects leading to the establishment of such mixed infections is limited. Recently, we reported a mixed infection of a single strawberry plant with strawberry mottle virus (SMoV), strawberry crinkle virus (SCV) and strawberry virus 1 (StrV-1). While SCV and StrV-1 are represented by two and three molecular variants, respectively, SmoV has three different RNA1 and RNA2 segments. In this study, we focus on virus acquisition by individual adult aphids of the Aphis gossypii, Aphis forbesi and Chaetosiphon fragaefolii species. Single-aphid transmission trials are performed under experimental conditions. Both different viruses and individual virus strains show varying performances in single aphid acquisition. The obtained data suggests that numerous individual transmission events lead to the establishment of multistrain infections. These data will be important for the development of epidemiological models in plant virology.

Analysis of Virus-Derived siRNAs in Strawberry Plants Co-Infected with Multiple Viruses and Their Genotypes

“…In our previous studies, we noted a moderately high incidence of mixed virus infections in strawberry under field conditions [41,42]. In an interesting case, a single strawberry plant was infected with multiple strains of three different viruses: the strawberry mottle virus (SMoV-Secoviridae), strawberry crinkle virus (SCV-Rhabdoviridae) and strawberry virus 1 (StrV-1-Rhabdoviridae) [41,43,44]. All three viruses are aphid-borne viruses, and preferences in the transmission of distinct viral strains by certain aphid species have been reported [44].…”

“…The CRM daughter plants served as virus sources during the aphid-mediated transmission of SMoV and StrV-1 to Alpine strawberry, F. vesca semperflorens; for details, see Koloniuk et al [44]. Briefly, F. vesca plants infected with some of the abovementioned strains of SMoV and StrV-1 were obtained (Table 2).…”

“…In an interesting case, a single strawberry plant was infected with multiple strains of three different viruses: the strawberry mottle virus (SMoV-Secoviridae), strawberry crinkle virus (SCV-Rhabdoviridae) and strawberry virus 1 (StrV-1-Rhabdoviridae) [41,43,44]. All three viruses are aphid-borne viruses, and preferences in the transmission of distinct viral strains by certain aphid species have been reported [44]. SMoV is highly variable, and several variants of different geographical origins have been sequenced thus far [45][46][47]; however, an absence of recombination interactions between the strains of the virus has been demonstrated [44].…”

“…All three viruses are aphid-borne viruses, and preferences in the transmission of distinct viral strains by certain aphid species have been reported [44]. SMoV is highly variable, and several variants of different geographical origins have been sequenced thus far [45][46][47]; however, an absence of recombination interactions between the strains of the virus has been demonstrated [44]. In the case of the rhabdoviruses, we may expect the existing diversity of these viruses to be high, although the number of studied samples has been rather small.…”

“…In the case of the rhabdoviruses, we may expect the existing diversity of these viruses to be high, although the number of studied samples has been rather small. We previously showed that selected strains of SMoV and StrV-1 are capable of superinfection [44], and their transmission via insect vectors has been estimated to be the most important factor in viral spreading in strawberry under field conditions [37,48].…”