Artificial feeding Rice stripe virus enables efficient virus infection of Laodelphax striatellus

摘要

Rice stripe virus (RSV), the causative agent of rice stripe disease, is transmitted by Laodelphax striatellus in a persistent-propagative manner. Efficient virus acquisition is primary for studies of virus transmission and virus-insect vector interactions. However, under greenhouse conditions, less than 30% of the L striatellus population, on average, become viruliferous during feeding on RSV-infected plants. Here, we explored a method for efficient RSV acquisition by feeding the insects with a virus-containing artificial diet. Virus particles were partially purified from frozen infected rice leaves. A series of RSV concentrations in a 5% sucrose solution were tested in the feed of L striatellus nymphs. The percentage of infected insects increased along with the increasing viral concentration, and the highest infection percentage 96% was achieved using a 1200 ng mu L-1 crude RSV suspension after 48 h feeding. RSV particles acquired in this manner were able to spread to L striatellus salivary glands. This improved method of obtaining viruliferous insects should assist the study of RSV transmission mechanisms in L. striatellus. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.