Infection with a plant virus modifies vector feeding behavior.
Stafford CA, Walker GP, Ullman DE.
Vector infection by some animal-infecting parasites results in altered feeding that enhances transmission. Modification of vector behavior is of broad adaptive significance, as parasite fitness relies on passage to a new host, and vector feeding is nearly always essential for transmission. Although several plant viruses infect their insect vectors, we have shown that vector infection by a plant virus alters feeding behavior. Here we show that infection with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), type member of the only plant-infecting genus in the Bunyaviridae, alters the feeding behavior of its thrips vector, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). Male thrips infected with TSWV fed more than uninfected males, with the frequency of all feeding behaviors increasing by up to threefold, thus increasing the probability of virus inoculation. Importantly, infected males made almost three times more noningestion probes (probes in which they salivate, but leave cells largely undamaged) compared with uninfected males. A functional cell is requisite for TSWV infection and cell-to-cell movement; thus, this behavior is most likely to establish virus infection. Some animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae (La Crosse virus and Rift Valley fever virus) also cause increased biting rates in infected vectors. Concomitantly, these data support the hypothesis that capacity to modify vector feeding behavior is a conserved trait among plant- and animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae that evolved as a mechanism to enhance virus transmission. Our results underscore the evolutionary importance of vector behavioral modification to diverse parasites with host ranges spanning both plant and animal kingdoms.
Vector infection by some animal-infecting parasites results in altered feeding that enhances transmission. Modification of vector behavior is of broad adaptive significance, as parasite fitness relies on passage to a new host, and vector feeding is nearly always essential for transmission. Although several plant viruses infect their insect vectors, we have shown that vector infection by a plant virus alters feeding behavior. Here we show that infection with Tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), type member of the only plant-infecting genus in the Bunyaviridae, alters the feeding behavior of its thrips vector, Frankliniella occidentalis (Pergande). Male thrips infected with TSWV fed more than uninfected males, with the frequency of all feeding behaviors increasing by up to threefold, thus increasing the probability of virus inoculation. Importantly, infected males made almost three times more noningestion probes (probes in which they salivate, but leave cells largely undamaged) compared with uninfected males. A functional cell is requisite for TSWV infection and cell-to-cell movement; thus, this behavior is most likely to establish virus infection. Some animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae (La Crosse virus and Rift Valley fever virus) also cause increased biting rates in infected vectors. Concomitantly, these data support the hypothesis that capacity to modify vector feeding behavior is a conserved trait among plant- and animal-infecting members of the Bunyaviridae that evolved as a mechanism to enhance virus transmission. Our results underscore the evolutionary importance of vector behavioral modification to diverse parasites with host ranges spanning both plant and animal kingdoms.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Jun 7;108(23):9350-5. Epub 2011 May 23.
Why is this cool?
First of all, what is it? Something that I didn't know for awhile was that "vector" does not just mean a line with a direction, it also means something that carries disease from to the host. An example is that fleas were vectors for bubonic plague during the Black Death time. Today's paper is about how how a plant virus (Tomato spotted wilt virus) infects thrips (Frankliniella occidentalis) and how the thrip infects tomato plants.
What they found was that after being infected, thrips increase their feeding three-fold when compared to uninfected thrips. They also found that infected thrips had increased probing tendencies also about three-fold increased. Looking at it in broad terms, a virus changed the behavior of an organism. Wow! Like Super Wow. World of Warcraft WoW!!
There are times that I look in the mirror and I see myself as a person with interests and a history and beliefs about many things, but, sometimes, I see something different. My eyes wander over my nose, glasses, and mouth, only to see a biological machine. If a computer could see itself in a mirror, it would see itself as I sometimes see myself.
The biological machine is the execution of timeless genetic material and it subject to further programming. I would like to believe that I am some biologically-independent personality, but after reading about how my personality can change with insufficient HP and how a blow to the head can make me mind dead, I am positive that it is not the case. This thing I call "me" exists in a precarious state of well-fed (possibly over-fed) and disease-free. If one of those things should change, so would my personality.
Strange, I say "my personality" as if it were a thing like a messenger bag that I carry all my things in. Am I the collection of my personality, history, and biological disposition? What is this thing called "me"?
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Am I wrong? A misinterpretation of the data? Questions about what is what? Let me know.