Transmission of tobacco streak virus by <i>Thrips tabach</i> a new method of plant virus transmission

Abstract

When adults or nymphs of Thrips tabaci were mixed with virus‐carrying pollen from Lycopersicon esculentum infected with tobacco streak virus and then placed on Chenopodium amaranticolor test seedlings, the virus was regularly transmitted. The virus was also regularly transmitted when virus‐carrying pollen was placed on the leaves of C amaranticolor test seedlings and the thrips then introduced. No transmission occurred when test seedlings were exposed to virus‐carrying pollen in the absence of the thrips or to the thrips without pollen. Further, no transmission occurred when the thrips were fed on virus‐infected leaves and then transferred to test seedlings in the absence of virus‐carrying pollen. The evidence indicates that the transmission of tobacco streak virus by Thrips tabaci depends on the presence of pollen‐borne virus, which presumably infects via wounds made by the thrips. This method of virus transmission has not previously been reported.