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ARS Home » Plains Area » Lincoln, Nebraska » Wheat, Sorghum and Forage Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #308237
Title: Impact of Wheat streak mosaic virus and Triticum mosaic virus co-infection of wheat on transmission rates by wheat curl mites

Author
item OLIVEIRA-HOFMAN, C - University Of Nebraska
item WEGULO, S - University Of Nebraska
item Tatineni, Satyanarayana - Ts
item HEIN, G - University Of Nebraska

Submitted to: Plant Disease
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/16/2014
Publication Date: 8/15/2015
Citation: Oliveira-Hofman, C., Wegulo, S.N., Tatineni, S., Hein, G.L. 2015. Impact of Wheat streak mosaic virus and Triticum mosaic virus co-infection of wheat on transmission rates by wheat curl mites. Plant Disease. Plant Disease 99, 1170-1174.

Interpretive Summary: Co-infection of wheat by Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV) is common in growers’ fields because both viruses are transmitted by the wheat curl mite. In double infections, the two viruses act together in a synergistic fashion to induce symptoms and yield losses in excess of those observed with single infections. Mite transmissions from singly (WSMV or TriMV) and doubly (WSMV+TriMV) infected wheat plants were performed to examine the effects of double infections on mite transmission efficiencies of WSMV and TriMV. From doubly infected wheat, mite transmission of WSMV decreased significantly compared to that from singly infected plants (50% vs 36%). In contrast, increased mite transmission rates were observed for TriMV from co-infected plants compared to single infection (43% vs 57%). These results help explain the high relative incidence of TriMV co-infected with WSMV in field observations.

Technical Abstract: Wheat streak mosaic virus (WSMV) and Triticum mosaic virus (TriMV) are transmitted by the wheat curl mite (WCM, Aceria tosichella Keifer). Previous work has shown that different mite genotypes transmit TriMV at different rates. The objective of this research was to determine if mite genotypes differed in virus transmission ability when feeding on wheat co-infected by WSMV and TriMV. WCM genotype ‘Type 2’ was used to determine virus transmission rates from mock, WSMV, TriMV and double-infected wheat plants. A significant decrease (50% vs. 35.6%) in WSMV transmission was found for Type 2 WCM when wheat was double-infected with TriMV; however, TriMV transmission rates increased (43.3% vs 56.8%) when double-infected with WSMV. Mite survival data indicate that the reduction in WSMV transmission may be the result of poorer mite survival when TriMV is present. Even though these changes in transmission rates are moderate, they help explain the high relative incidence of TriMV positive plants that are co-infected with WSMV in field observations. Two separate colonies of WCM genotype ‘Type 1’ were tested to assess if co-infection would impact transmission of WSMV and TriMV. As expected, Type 1 mites did not transmit TriMV from plants double-infected with WSMV, but the two Type 1 colonies varied in transmission rates for WSMV (36.5% vs 20.9%). These findings begin to demonstrate the complicated interactions found in this mite-virus complex and contribute to our understanding of the epidemiology of the WCM-virus complex.