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Effect of Aphid Saliva and Extracts of Aphid-Infested Leaves on the Infectivity of Tobacco Mosaic Virus and Some Stylet-Borne Viruses. Thomas P. Pirone, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington 40506; Phytopathology 60:1657-1659. Accepted for publication 19 June 1970. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-60-1657.

Crude extracts and resuspended alcohol precipitates of extracts of leaves infested with aphids were tested for their ability to inhibit the infectivity of tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) and four stylet-borne viruses: cucumber mosaic (CMV), tobacco etch (TEV), alfalfa mosaic, and turnip mosaic. Sucrose solutions containing aphid saliva were tested for their ability to inhibit purified TMV, CMV, and TEV. Infectivity tests, made by mechanical inoculation of local lesion hosts, showed that infectivity of the stylet-borne viruses was inhibited by extracts of aphid-infested leaves as rapidly and to as great an extent as TMV. Inhibition of TMV infectivity by saliva-containing solutions occurred in some tests, but was no greater than that of CMV or TEV. The fact that preparations which contain saliva inhibit the infectivity of stylet-borne viruses to the same extent as they inhibit TMV infectivity makes questionable the conclusion of others, based on experiments with similar preparations, that inability of TMV to be transmitted by aphids is due to the inhibitory effects of saliva.