Onion Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Feeding Promotes Infection By Pantoea ananatis in Onion.

ABSTRACT: Onion thrips, Thrips tabaci Lindeman, is a primary insect pest of onions (Allium cepa) worldwide. Onion thrips cause feeding damage by destroying epidermal tissue. They are also vectors of Pantoea ananatis (Serrano) Mergaert, the bacteria that causes center rot. Onions with center rot develop white streaks with water-soaked margins along the onion leaves, which turn necrotic and lead to bulb rot during storage. The role of thrips feeding on the establishment and progression of bacterial infection in onions has not been investigated. Onions infested with thrips and inoculated with P. ananatis had more necrotic tissue and symptoms were more severe with increasing thrips density. We conducted a fluorescence microscopy study that examined how P. ananatis (expressing a fluorescence protein gene

SUBMITTER: Grode A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6281329 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature