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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Wapato, Washington » Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #419047
Research Project: New Technologies and Strategies for Managing Emerging Insect Pests and Insect Transmitted Pathogens of Potatoes

Location: Temperate Tree Fruit and Vegetable Research

Title: Wolbachia infection modifies phloem feeding behavior but not plant virus transmission by a hemipteran host

Author
item Angelella, Gina
item Foutz, Jillian
item Galindo-Schuller, Joanna

Submitted to: Journal of Insect Physiology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 12/26/2024
Publication Date: 12/27/2024
Citation: Angelella, G.M., Foutz, J.J., Galindo-Schuller, J. 2024. Wolbachia infection modifies phloem feeding behavior but not plant virus transmission by a hemipteran host. Journal of Insect Physiology. 160(2025);104746. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2024.104746.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jinsphys.2024.104746

Interpretive Summary: The beet leafhopper is an economically important crop pest due to its ability to transmit multiple plant pathogens, including beet curly top virus, which is transmitted during phloem feeding and is widespread in the western U.S., infecting over 300 plant species in 44 families. Recently, a naturally-occurring infection of the bacteria Wolbachia was found in some sub-populations of beet leafhopper within the Columbia Basin region of Washington and Oregon, but it is unknown whether or how Wolbachia affects the feeding behavior of herbivorous insects or the transmission of beet curly top virus. USDA researchers in Wapato, WA, studied the feeding behavior of beet leafhoppers with and without Wolbachia and measured corresponding inoculation and acquisition rates of beet curly top virus. They found that the beet leafhoppers with Wolbachia spent threefold the time ingesting phloem, although beet curly top virus inoculation was unaffected and acquisition was marginally lower in beet leafhoppers carrying Wolbachia. This work increases our knowledge regarding Wolbachia-insect interactions and could have important implications for the epidemiology of insect-vectored plant pathogens.

Technical Abstract: Wolbachia-infected and uninfected subpopulations of beet leafhoppers, Circulifer tenellus (Baker) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), co-occur in the Columbia Basin region of Washington and Oregon. While facultative endosymbionts such as Hamiltonella defensa have demonstrably altered feeding/probing behavior in hemipteran hosts, the behavioral phenotypes conferred by Wolbachia to its insect hosts, including feeding/probing, are largely understudied. We studied the feeding/probing behavior of beet leafhoppers from in-house colonies with and without Wolbachia on plants using electropenetrography, along with corresponding inoculation rates of beet curly top virus (BCTV), a phloem-limited plant pathogen vectored by beet leafhoppers. Insects carrying BCTV with and without Wolbachia were individually recorded for four hours while interacting with a potato plant, and wavelengths annotated following established conventions. Virus inoculation rates and the duration of phloem salivation events did not vary. Wolbachia-infected insects more than tripled the duration of phloem ingestion, but despite this, Wolbachia infection was linked with marginally lower, not enhanced, acquisition. Regardless, results suggest potential for Wolbachia to increase the acquisition rate of other phloem-limited plant pathogens.