Journal of General Plant Pathology (2022) 88, 81-87

Masamichi Isogai, Ren Shimoda, Honoka Nishimura and Hajime Yaegashi (2022)
Pollen grains infected with Apple stem grooving virus serve as a vector for horizontal transmission of the virus
Journal of General Plant Pathology 88 (1), 81-87
Abstract: Here, Nicotiana benthamiana plants became infected with apple stem grooving virus (ASGV) after pollination with pollen grains produced by ASGV-infected apple (Malus pumila) and N. benthamiana plants. Aniline blue staining and fluorescence microscopy revealed that pollen grains from the infected apple and N. benthamiana plants germinated, and their pollen tubes penetrated the stigmas of N. benthamiana, but the apple pollen tubes, unlike the N. benthamiana pollen tubes, stopped elongating in N. benthamiana styles. In a whole-mount in situ hybridization analysis, ASGV was detected in elongating pollen tubes from the ASGV-infected apple and N. benthamiana plants. However, when N. benthamiana stigmas were pollinated with ASGV-infected apple and N. benthamiana pollen grains that could not germinate, ASGV was not detected in any of the pollinated plants. Thus, penetration of the stigma and elongation in the style by pollen tubes harboring the virus results in horizontal pollen transmission of ASGV, and fertilization is not essential for the transmission.
(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): Masamichi Isogai

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
transmission/dispersal of plant diseases

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Apple stem grooving virus	Apple (Malus)