Short communication. Effect of Bemisia tabaci biotype in the transmission of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Sardinia Virus (TYLCSV-ES) between tomato and common weeds

Abstract

The common five weed species Datura stramonium L., Solanum nigrum L., Brassica kaber (DC), Capsella bursapastoris L. and Malva parviflora L., were tested for their susceptibility to an isolate of TYLCSV from Murcia, Spain (TYLCSV-ES), using the B-, Q- and S-biotypes of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius). Both, B- and Q-biotypes were shown to transmit TYLCSV-ES from infected tomato to S. nigrum and D. stramonium and vice versa. Transmission efficiency from tomato to these weeds varied from 58.3% to 83.3%. Transmission efficiency from the infected weeds back to tomato varied from 66.7% to 100%. No significant difference between the B- and Q-biotypes was found in transmission efficiency from infected tomato to weed plants and from D. stramonium back to tomato. However, a significant difference in transmission efficiency from infected S. nigrum plants to tomato was detected between the B- and Qbiotypes. No other tested weed species were found to be infected by or host TYLCSV-ES. The S-biotype was unable to survive on tomato long enough to acquire or transmit TYLCSV-ES and could only transmit the virus from S. nigrum to S. nigrum at a very low efficiency. The implications of these results for the epidemiology of TYLCV´s in the field are discussed.