Infection with a plant virus modifies vector feeding behavior.

ABSTRACT: Vector infection by some animal-infecting parasites results in altered feeding that enhances transmission. Modification of vector behavior is of broad adaptive significance, as parasite fitness relies on passage to a new host, and vector feeding is nearly always essential for transmission. Although several plant viruses infect their insect vectors, we have shown that vector infection by a plant virus alters feeding behavior. Here we show that infection with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), type member of the only plant-infecting genus in the Bunyaviridae, alters the feeding behavior of its thrips vector, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). Male thrips infected with TSWV fed more than uninfected males, with the frequency of all feeding behaviors increasing by up to threefold, thus incre

SUBMITTER: Stafford CA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3111272 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature