Journal of Economic Entomology (2008) 101, 1114-1121
Rosangela C. Marucci, João R.S. Lopes and Rodney R. Cavichioli (2008)
Transmission efficiency of Xylella fastidiosa by sharpshooters (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) in coffee and citrus
Journal of Economic Entomology 101 (4), 1114-1121
Abstract: Xylella fastidiosa (Wells, Raju, Hung, Weisburg, Mandelco-Paul, and Brenner) is a bacterial pathogen transmitted by several sharpshooters in two tribes of Cicadellinae (Proconiini and Cicadellini). Here, we compared the transmission efficiency of X. fastidiosa in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) and citrus [Citrus sinensis (L.) Osbeck] by Cicadellini [Bucephalogonia xanthophis (Berg) and Dilobopterus costalimai Young] and Proconiini [Homalodisca ignorata Melichar and Oncometopia facialis (Signoret)] sharpshooters that occur in both crops. At different seasons, healthy adults of each species were submitted to a 48-h acquisition access period on citrus or coffee source plants infected with X. fastidiosa isolates that cause Citrus variegated chlorosis (CVC) and Coffee leaf scorch (CLS), respectively, and then confined on healthy seedlings of the corresponding host plant for a 48-h inoculation access period. No significant effect of inoculation season was observed when comparing infection rates of citrus or coffee plants inoculated by vectors at different times of the year. In citrus, the transmission rate by single insects was significantly higher for H. ignorata (30%) in relation to B. xanthophis (5%) and O. facialis (1.1%), but there was no difference among vector species in coffee, whose transmission rates ranged from 1.2 to 7.2%. Comparing host plants, H. ignorata was more effective in transmitting X. fastidiosa to citrus (30%) in relation to coffee (2.2%), whereas the other vectors transmitted the bacterium to both hosts with similar efficiencies. Despite these variations, vector efficiency in coffee and citrus is lower than that reported in other hosts.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): João Roberto Spotti Lopes, Rosangela Cristina Marucci
Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
transmission/dispersal of plant diseases
