VIEW ARTICLE

Vector Relations

Fate of Viruses in Bean Leaves After Deposition by Epilachna varivestis, a Beetle Vector of Plant Viruses. T. K. Field, Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701; C. A. Patterson, R. C. Gergerich, and K. S. Kim. Department of Plant Pathology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville 72701. Phytopathology 84:1346-1350. Accepted for publication 19 July 1994. Copyright 1994 The American Phytopathological Society. DOI: 10.1094/Phyto-84-1346.

Fluorescent antibody labeling was used to detect plant viruses within bean leaves after virus was deposited by Mexican bean beetles previously fed purified virus. Two to three days post feeding, southern bean mosaic virus (SBMV) and bean pod mottle virus, two beetle-transmissible viruses, were detected in veins leading from the feeding wound, and primary infection sites occurred close to feeding wound sites in mesophyll cells associated with these veins. In addition, SBMV antigen and infection sites were detected at some distance from the feeding wound. The location of infection sites for both viruses was confirmed by viruliferous beetle feeding on local lesion hosts. Two non-beetle-transmissible viruses, tobacco ring-spot virus and tobacco mosaic virus, were detected only on the edges of feeding wounds at 2–3 days after feeding. At 4–12 h after feeding, all four viruses were found in veins leading from the feeding site, although the non-beetle-transmissible viruses were found in fewer veins and were not detected far from the feeding wound. These results suggest that non-beetle-transmissible viruses introduced by beetle feeding are translocated in veins but to a lesser extent than beetle-transmissible viruses.