Pathogen effects on vegetative and floral odours mediate vector attraction and host exposure in a complex pathosystem

Pathogens can alter host phenotypes in ways that influence interactions between hosts and other organisms, including insect disease vectors. Such effects have implications for pathogen transmission, as well as host exposure to secondary pathogens, but are not well studied in natural systems, particu...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology letters 2012-12, Vol.15 (12), p.1430-1438
Main Authors: Shapiro, Lori, De Moraes, Consuelo M., Stephenson, Andrew G., Mescher, Mark C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Allelochemicals
Animals
chemical ecology
Chrysomelidae
Coleoptera - microbiology
Cucurbita
Cucurbita - chemistry
Cucurbita - microbiology
Cucurbita - virology
Cucurbita pepo
disease ecology
Disease transmission
Erwinia - physiology
Erwinia tracheiphila
Genotype & phenotype
green-leaf volatiles
Host-Pathogen Interactions - physiology
Insect Vectors - physiology
Insects
Macroecology
Odorants
Pathogens
Plant diseases
Plant Diseases - microbiology
Plant Diseases - virology
plant volatiles
Potyvirus - physiology
wild gourd
Zucchini Yellow Mosaic Virus
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Pathogens can alter host phenotypes in ways that influence interactions between hosts and other organisms, including insect disease vectors. Such effects have implications for pathogen transmission, as well as host exposure to secondary pathogens, but are not well studied in natural systems, particularly for plant pathogens. Here, we report that the beetle‐transmitted bacterial pathogen Erwinia tracheiphila – which causes a fatal wilt disease – alters the foliar and floral volatile emissions of its host (wild gourd, Cucurbita pepo ssp. texana) in ways that enhance both vector recruitment to infected plants and subsequent dispersal to healthy plants. Moreover, infection by Zucchini yellow mosaic virus (ZYMV), which also occurs at our study sites, reduces floral volatile emissions in a manner that discourages beetle recruitment and therefore likely reduces the exposure of virus‐infected plants to the lethal bacterial pathogen – a finding consistent with our previous observation of dramatically reduced wilt disease incidence in ZYMV‐infected plants.
ISSN:1461-023X
1461-0248
DOI:10.1111/ele.12001