Transmission of Pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus by the Eriophyid Mite, Aceria cajani (Acari: Arthropoda)

Abstract

The transmission characteristics of Pigeon pea sterility mosaic virus (PPSMV) to pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan) by its eriophyid mite vector, Aceria cajani, were studied. Nonviruliferous A. cajani colonies were established on detached healthy leaflets of a PPSMV-immune pigeon pea cultivar floating on water. The transmission efficiency of single A. cajani was up to 53% but was 100% when >5 mites per plant were used. A. cajani acquired PPSMV after a minimum acquisition access period (AAP) of 15 min and inoculated virus after a minimum inoculation access period (IAP) of 90 min. No latent period was observed. Starvation of A. cajani prior to, or following, PPSMV acquisition reduced the minimum AAP and IAP periods to 10 min and 60 min, respectively, and mites retained virus for up to 13 h. None of the mites that developed from eggs taken from PPSMV-infected leaves transmitted the virus, indicating that it is not transmitted transovarially. Taken together, these data suggest a semipersistent mode of transmission of PPSMV by A. cajani.

Deep sequencing of dsRNAs recovered from mosaic-diseased pigeonpea reveals the presence of a novel emaravirus: pigeonpea sterility mosaic virus 2

“…Although the SMD agent has long remained unknown, its viral nature was hypothesized based on the type of symptoms, transmission by mites (Aceria cajani) [20] and the presence of 100-to 150-nm quasi-spherical double membrane-bound bodies (DMBBs) in thin-sectioned plant tissues [22]. Comparable DMBBs have been identified as particles of the putative causal agents of a number of diseases, including fig mosaic [2,7,8,29], ringspot of European mountain ash [32], and rosetting of rose [27], to In order from RNA1 to RNA6, accession numbers are: HF912243-HF912246, HG939489, HG939490.…”

A Novel Mite-Transmitted Virus with a Divided RNA Genome Closely Associated with Pigeonpea Sterility Mosaic Disease

“…Despite these similarities, serological tests failed to detect any relationship of PPSMV to MSpV, a tenuivirus endemic in the Indian subcontinent, or to PBNV, a tospovirus endemic in India. Furthermore, whereas tospoviruses, tenuiviruses, and several other membrane-associated plant viruses are transmitted in a persistent and often propagative manner by their invertebrate vector species (52), PPSMV is transmitted by eriophyid mites and our recent studies indicate that A. cajani transmits it in a semipersistent manner (24). Moreover, the partial nucleotide sequence of one of the PPSMV RNA species and the monoisotopic masses of the 32-kDa nucleoprotein show no similarity with these, or with any other, viruses in the databases.…”

“…The invariable association of vector mites with diseased plants led to a speculation that SMD may be the result of mite toxemia. However, this was excluded by critical experiments using SMD agent-free mite colonies on SMD-susceptible pigeonpea cultivars (15,24). Based on symptoms and transmission by mites, the SMD agent was assumed to be a virus.…”

The Effect of Temperature, Relative Humidity, and Virus Infection Status on off-host Survival of the Wheat Curl Mite (Acari: Eriophyidae)

“…In the current study, WSMV infection did not affect off-host survival. In another eriophyoid mite, the fecundity of A. cajani was enhanced on pigeon pea plants infected with pea sterility mosaic disease compared with noninfected plants (Kulkarni et al 2002). In this study, mites from TriMV-infected plants had a 19-24% reduction in off-host survival compared with those from noninfected or WSMV-infected plants.…”