Survival in Dalbulus leafhopper vectors improves after exposure to maize stunting pathogens

• Published in: Entomologia experimentalis et applicata Vol. 100; no. 3; pp. 311 - 324
• Main Authors: Ebbert, Mercedes A., Nault, Lowell R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Science Ltd 01-09-2001; Blackwell
• Subjects: Animal and plant ecology; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Cicadellidae; corn stunt spiroplasma; Demecology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Homoptera; insect vectors; local adaptation; maize busby stunt phytoplasma; mollicute; plant pathogens; Protozoa. Invertebrata; Spiroplasma kunkelii; Zea mays; Mexico; Monocotyledones; Zea mays; Plant pathogen; Insecta; Dalbulus maidis; Exposure; Mutualism; Survival; Cereal crop; Cicadomorpha; Pest; Homoptera; Gramineae; Arthropoda; Angiospermae; Spermatophyta; Invertebrata; Cicadellidae; Vector
• ISSN: 0013-8703; 1570-7458
• DOI: 10.1046/j.1570-7458.2001.00878.x

Using D. maidis and pathogen isolates collected at three field sites along an altitudinal gradient in Mexico, we compared survival in leafhoppers exposed to healthy maize to those exposed to maize infected with one of four isolates of maize stunting pathogens: two isolates of the corn stunt spiroplasma (CSS, Spiroplasma kunkelii) and two of the maize busby stunt phytoplasma (MBSP). Survival improved after exposure to either plant pathogen under both the cooler and warmer environmental conditions D. maidis is likely to encounter during the dry season. Survival varied among leafhoppers from the different field sites, suggesting that gene flow between these populations is limited. The leafhoppers responded differently to the four isolates (i.e., we noted significant population by exposure interactions), but we found no difference between MBSP and CSS exposure. Finally, we found evidence of local adaptation in one leafhopper population to sympatric, as compared to allopatric, plant pathogens. We have shown with this and our earlier study that aspects of the interaction phenotype in the association between D. maidis and the plant pathogens are mutualistic and that this association has considerable potential as a model for studies of local adaptation.