The small brown planthopper (SBPH), Laodelphax striatellus, is a major insect pest for the rice plants. SBPH is also a known vector of rice stripe virus (RSV), which causes severe yield losses in rice crops throughout the East Asia. RSV is persistently transmitted by SBPH and can also be transmitted to offspring through transovarial transmission. SBPH is known to migrate from China to the west coast of the Republic of Korea (ROK). The study investigated the impact of temperature on the acquisition and transmission of RSV by SBPH in ROK, which is expected to experience increased migration and emergence of SBPH due to climate change. The results revealed that the acquisition and transmission rates of RSV were higher at 27°C compared to 24°C, with rates of 100% and 78.3%, respectively. However, at 30°C, the acquisition and transmission rates of RSV was decreased. The results suggests that temperature can impact the transmission of RSV by SBPH. To investigate this further, SBPH adults were fed on RSV-infected plants and infection rates were compared across various tissues, including the head, salivary glands, midgut, Malpighian tubules, ovary, and hindgut. Results showed that at 36 hours post-infection, RSV was highly detected in the Malpighian tubules, ovary, and hindgut. At 48 hours post-infection, RSV was also detected in the thorax. These results suggest that the transmission rates of RSV in SBPH increase with temperature between 24-27°C, but decrease at 30°C, indicating that the vectorial capacity of SBPH for RSV decreases above a certain threshold.

Bemisia tabaci is a vector of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) but Trialeurodes vaporariorum is not. To determine the effect of TYLCV acquisition on vector and non-vector, we compared various physiological characteristics between two species. Our results showed that TYLCV acquisition significantly affected B. tabaci but not T. vaporariorum. The B. tabaci increased susceptibility against thermal stress but weakened chill coma recovery, shortening of longevity, low fecundity and abbreviated developmental time by virus acquisition. At the molecular level, B. tabaci increased hsp70 and hsp90 levels by TYLCV ingestion. However, T. vaporariorum did not shown any changes of those characteristics. Therefore, the physiological manipulation of TYLCV was specific to vector species but not non-vector species.

애멸구(Laodelphax striatellus)는 rice stripe virus (RSV)의 매개충으로 벼에 큰 피해를 주는 해충이다. 본 연구에서는 애멸구의 장·단시형, 암·수, 약·성충에 대한 RSV 보독률과 이병률을 비교하였다. 애멸구의 장·단시형의 RSV 보독률은 각각 60.7%, 63.1%로 크게 차이는 없었다. 암·수에 대한 RSV 보독률은 각각 61.9%, 52.2%로 암컷의 보독률이 더 높았으나 유의성은 없었다. 약·성충의 보독률을 비교한 결과 각각 51.2%, 58.7%로 역시 크게 차이가 나지는 않았다. RSV에 감염된 애멸구에 노출된 건전한 벼의 이병률은 장시형은 53.3%, 단시형은 48.2%를 보였으며, 약·성충의 이병률은 각각 38.2%, 42.6%를 보여 유의성은 없었다. 반면 암컷은 50.5%의 이병률을 보이고 수컷은 22.3%의 이병률을 보여 암컷이 수컷에 비해 22.3% 이병률이 높아 유의성이 있었다. 또한 벼와 애멸구의 RSV 감염여부에 의한 애멸구의 발육기간은 건전한 벼에 RSV 감염 애멸구를 접종 했을 때 가장 긴 것으로 나타났으며, 건전한 벼에 건전한 애멸구를 접종 했을 때 발육기간이 가장 짧은 것으로 나타났다.

The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a disastrous pest in horticultural plants worldwide. B. tabaci is a species complex including at least 24 biotypes in the world. In Korea, B-biotype has been invaded in 1998, Q-biotype in 2005 and widely spread into the country. B. tabaci is also a vector of more than 100 plant viruses, especially begomoviruses. Since 2008, Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) has been invaded into Korea and severely damaged tomato cultivar in all over of the country. B. tabaci is the only vector insect of TYLCV. Here we demonstrated whether TYLCV influence on the vector physiology during virus transmission. Pesticide susceptibility of whiteflies on TYLCV acquisition was determined in B. tabaci using the two-layered parafilm feeding chamber which containing 20% sugar solution including different doses of imidacloprid. Our result showed that TYLCV-viruliferous whiteflies were more susceptible to imidacloprid ingestion than non-viruliferous whiteflies. This study suggests that plant virus can manipulate the physiological conditions of vector insects.

Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is a vector of more than 100 plant-diseased viruses, as well as a serious pest of various horticultural plants. This species harbors a primary endosymbiont Portiera along with several secondary endosymbionts such as Cardinium and Hamiltonella. We investigated whether or not TYLCV acquisition alters the densities of endosymbionts in the body of B. tabaci using quantitative real-time PCR. Our results showed that the densities of both Cardinium and Hamiltonella, but not Portiera, increased upon acquisition of TYLCV. In addition, expression of GroEL, a molecular chaperone produced by Hamiltonella, was significantly upregulated in TYLCV-infected whiteflies. Our results suggest that endosymbionts may play an important role in TYLCV transmission mechanism within the body of B. tabaci.

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is a vector of more than 100 plantdiseased viruses as well as a serious pest to various horticultural crops. Virus acquisition affects the vector’s development and reproduction, but its mechanism is largely unknown. Here we compared the temperature responses between non-viruliferous and TYLCV-viruliferous Q biotype of B. tabaci. When both non-viruliferous and viruliferous whiteflies were exposed for 1 and 3 h at 4, 25, and 35°C, the mortality rate of viruliferous whiteflies is higher than nonviruliferous after exposure at 4°C and 35°C, but no differences at 25°C between them. Analysis of the expression levels of heat shock protein (hsp) genes using the quantitative realtime PCR showed that viruliferous whiteflies has higher expression in hsp70, and hsp90 at both 4°C and 35°C, but no differences at 25°C. The results suggest that vector insects may not be durable to unfavorable temperature conditions when they acquisite plant viruses.

The sweet potato whitefly Bemisia tabasi is one of the most important pests of various horticultural crops. In addition, B. tabaci is a vector of many plant-pathogenic viruses and cause a serious secondary damage to crop plants. Association of plant-pathogenic virus with vector insects is known to be effective on the transmission capacity, fecundity, longevity of vectors including whiteflies. However, the interactive mechanisms between virus and vector insects are still poorly understood. Recently, a serious damage caused by virus disease together with B. tabasi emergence was identified at tomato glasshouse in Tongyoung. We detected the signals of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus (TYLCV) in tomato leaves and vector whiteflies using PCR amplification and confirmed its presence by those sequence comparison. To determine the effects of TYLCV acquisition on physiological status of vector whiteflies, transcript levels of genes that associated with metamorphosis, metabolism, stress and immune processes were compared between TYLCVinfected whiteflies and non-infected ones. Generally, the transcript levels of virus-infected whiteflies were lower than those of non-infected ones. In addition, the associations of endosymbiont levels within whiteflies were discussed in aspect of the acquisition and transmission of TYLCV.