EPG Recordings Reveal Differential Feeding Behaviors in Sogatella furcifera in Response to Plant Virus Infection and Transmission Success

Abstract

Plant viruses are primarily transmitted by insect vectors and virus infection may influence on the vectors’ feeding behaviors. Using an electrical penetration graph, we detected that infection with the Southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) in the white-backed planthopper (WBPH) and in rice plants both altered the vector’s feeding behavior. When viruliferous WBPH (carrying SRBSDV) were fed on uninfected plants, they spent more time in salivation and phloem sap ingestion than non-viruliferous insects. In comparison with uninfected plants, infected plants showed an arrestant effect on non-viruliferous WBPH for phloem sap ingestion. Differential feeding behaviors were also detected between the WBPH that inoculated or acquired SRBSDV and those that failed to. The WBPH that inoculated SRBSDV exhibited more probing bouts, salivation events and phloem sap ingestion events and longer salivation than those that failed to. The WBPH that acquired SRBSDV were quicker to reach phloem and spent more time in phloem sap ingestion than those that failed to. These behavior alterations in the vector may have adaptive advantages for SRBSDV transmission and spread success because greater salivation by viruliferous vectors on uninfected hosts will promote virus inoculation, whereas more sap ingestion by non-viruliferous vectors on infected hosts will promote virus acquisition.

Silicon amendment to rice plants impairs sucking behaviors and population growth in the phloem feeder Nilaparvata lugens (Hemiptera: Delphacidae)

“…39 . Briefly, a newly emerged macropterous BPH female (<24 h) starved for 1 h was attached to one end of a gold wire (18 μm in diameter and 3–5 μm in length) at the dorsal thorax of the insect using a drop of water-soluble silver glue.…”

The probing behaviour of the planthopperDelphacodes kuscheli(Hemiptera: Delphacidae) on two alternating hosts, maize and oat

“…The plant and insect are incorporated in an electrical circuit by attaching an electrode to the dorsum of the insect and inserting another electrode to the potted plant. Among planthoppers of the Delphacidae family, the EPG technique has widely been used to study the feeding behaviour of important pests of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Asia: Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Kimmins 1989;Hattori 2001;Seo et al 2009;Ghaffar et al 2011), Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) (Lei et al 2016;Li et al 2016), Laodelphax striatellus Fallén (Seo et al 2016) and one pest of maize, Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead), in tropical and subtropical areas (Buduca et al 1996;Reynaud et al 2004). This technique has been used to test host suitability or resistance and the transmission mechanisms of plant pathogens mainly in aphids (Alvarez et al 2006(Alvarez et al , 2013Machado-Assefh & Alvarez 2018), leafhoppers (Carpane et al 2011;Backus et al 2015;Roddee et al 2017) and other sap-sucking hemipterans such as mirids (Backus et al 2007), whiteflies (Jhonson & Walker 1999;Lu et al 2017) and psyllids (Bonani et al 2010).…”

“…This technique has been used to test host suitability or resistance and the transmission mechanisms of plant pathogens mainly in aphids (Alvarez et al 2006(Alvarez et al , 2013Machado-Assefh & Alvarez 2018), leafhoppers (Carpane et al 2011;Backus et al 2015;Roddee et al 2017) and other sap-sucking hemipterans such as mirids (Backus et al 2007), whiteflies (Jhonson & Walker 1999;Lu et al 2017) and psyllids (Bonani et al 2010). Among planthoppers of the Delphacidae family, the EPG technique has widely been used to study the feeding behaviour of important pests of rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Asia: Nilaparvata lugens (Stål) (Kimmins 1989;Hattori 2001;Seo et al 2009;Ghaffar et al 2011), Sogatella furcifera (Horváth) (Lei et al 2016;Li et al 2016), Laodelphax striatellus Fallén (Seo et al 2016) and one pest of maize, Peregrinus maidis (Ashmead), in tropical and subtropical areas (Buduca et al 1996;Reynaud et al 2004).…”

Understanding the immune system architecture and transcriptome responses to southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus in Sogatella furcifera

“…In recent years, SRBSDV has spread rapidly throughout southern China and northern Vietnam8. SRBSDV can be efficiently transmitted in a persistent-propagative manner by WBPH, but not by the rice pests brown planthopper ( Nilaparvata lugens ) and small brown planthopper ( Laodelphax striatellus, SBPH)6, and it then enters the salivary glands through various routes for inoculation and transmission9. SRBSDV completes its life cycle in about 7 days10 and transmission to other locations is facilitated by the long-distance migration ability of WBPH3.…”