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Quantitative parameters determining whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) transmission of Lettuce infectious yellows virus and an engineered defective RNA

Department of Plant Pathology, University of California, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Correspondence
Bryce W. Falk
bwfalk{at}ucdavis.edu

In this study, quantitative parameters affecting in vitro acquisition and whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) transmission of Lettuce infectious yellows virus (LIYV) were examined and B. tabaci transmission of an engineered defective RNA (D-RNA) was demonstrated. Virions purified from virus- and virion RNA-inoculated Chenopodium murale plants and protoplasts of Nicotiana tabacum, respectively, were consistently transmitted to plants by B. tabaci when virion concentrations were 0·1 ng µl^–1 or greater. Transmission efficiency increased with increasing virion concentration and number of whiteflies used for inoculation. When in vitro-derived transcripts of the M5gfp D-RNA (engineered to express the green fluorescent protein, GFP) were co-inoculated to protoplasts with wild-type LIYV virion RNAs, the resulting virions were transmissible to plants. LIYV and the M5gfp D-RNA systemically invaded inoculated plants; however, GFP expression was not detected in these plants. Unlike LIYV, the M5gfp D-RNA was not subsequently transmitted by B. tabaci from the initially infected plants, but, when high concentrations of virions from plants infected by LIYV and the M5gfp D-RNA were used for in vitro acquisition by whiteflies, both were transmitted to plants. Quantitative and qualitative analyses showed that, although the M5gfp D-RNA replicated within and systemically invaded plants along with LIYV, compared with LIYV RNA 2 it was not as abundant in plants or in the resulting virions, and concentration of encapsidated RNAs is an important factor affecting transmission efficiency.