Search for potential vectors of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’: population dynamics in host crops

Abstract

‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ has recently been reported to be associated with vegetative disorders and economic losses in carrot and celery crops in Spain. The bacterium is a carrot seedborne pathogen and it is transmitted by psyllid vector species. From 2011 to 2014 seasonal and occasional surveys in carrot, celery and potato plots were performed. The sticky plant method was used to monitor the arthropods that visited the plants. The collected arthropods were classified into Aphididae and Cicadellidae, and the superfamily Psylloidea was identified to the species level. The superfamily Psylloidea represented 35.45% of the total arthropods captured on celery in Villena and 99.1% on carrot in Tenerife (Canary Islands). The maximum flight of psyllid species was in summer, both in mainland Spain and the Canary Islands, reaching a peak of 570 specimens in August in Villena and 6,063 in July in Tenerife. The main identified psyllid species were as follows: Bactericera trigonica Hodkinson, B. tremblayi Wagner and B. nigricornis Förster. B. trigonica represented more than 99% of the psyllids captured in the Canary Islands and 75% and 38% in 2011 and 2012 in Villena, respectively. In addition, Trioza urticae Linnaeus, Bactericera sp., Ctenarytaina sp., Cacopsylla sp., Trioza sp. and Psylla sp. were captured. ‘Ca. L. solanacearum’ targets were detected by squash real-time PCR in 19.5% of the psyllids belonging to the different Bactericera species. This paper reports at least three new psyllid species that carry the bacterium and can be considered as potential vectors.

Transmission of ‘Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum’ by Bactericera trigonica Hodkinson to vegetable hosts

“…The transmission of CaLso, which causes vegetative disorders in Apiaceae in Spain, has been associated with B. trigonica, the predominant psyllid species on carrot and celery (Alfaro-Fernández et al, 2012;Teresani et al, 2015). In addition, several studies have recently been published about sex-specific probing behaviour and the characterization of the EPG of B. trigonica on carrots (Antolínez et al, 2017a,c), and a risk of bacterial transmission from Apiaceae to potato by this psyllid and B. tremblayi (Antolínez et al, 2017b).…”

“…Psyllids, either fresh or preserved in 70% ethanol, were individually squashed on nylon membranes with the rounded end of an Eppendorf tube (Teresani et al, 2015). The membranes were immediately processed or kept at room temperature in a dry and dark place for a maximum of one month.…”

“…The membranes were immediately processed or kept at room temperature in a dry and dark place for a maximum of one month. The samples immobilized on membranes were carefully cut out and inserted into Eppendorf tubes containing 100 µL of distilled water to release the DNA targets (Teresani et al, 2015). Three microliters of the extract were directly used as a template for real-time PCR analysis.…”

“…The bacterium was also detected in B. trigonica, B. tremblayi, B. nigricornis and Bactericera sp. by squash real-time PCR (Teresani et al, 2015).…”

Rapid Communication. Tamarixia monesus (Walker) (Hym.: Eulophidae) parasitoid of Bactericera tremblayi (Wagner, 1961) (Hemiptera: Triozidae) in Iran

“…It has been found in Italy (Wagner 1961;Tremblay 1965;Conci and Tamanini 1988), Turkey (Klimaszewski and Lodos 1979), Switzerland (Burckhardt 1983), Greece (Burckhardt 1988), Bosnia-Herzegovina (Đuric and Hrnčic 2010), France (Ouvrard and Burckhardt 2012), Jordan (Ouvrard and Burckhardt 2012), Serbia (Jerinić--Prodanović 2006), Spain (Teresani et al 2015) and Iran (Burckhardt and Lauterer 1993;Kazemi and Jafarloo 2008). Bactericera tremblayi attacks diff erent families of host plants especially: Amaryllidaceae, Amaranthaceae, Apiaceae, Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Caryophyllaceae and Solanaceae (Klimaszewski and Lodos 1979;Burckhardt 1983;Conci and Tamanini 1988;Jerinić-Prodanović 2006;Kazemi and Jafarloo 2008).…”