Mastrevirus Transmission by the Insect Vectors, Leafhoppers.

Mastreviruses are important pathogens on many crops and they are transmitted in a persistent manner by leafhoppers. For experimental studies on mastreviruses, transmission with leafhoppers remains as an important method for virus inoculation. Here, we describe a protocol for setting up a culture of the leafhopper vector Psammotettix alienus and efficient leafhopper-mediated transmission of wheat dwarf virus.

Symptom evolution following the emergence of maize streak virus.

For pathogens infecting single host species evolutionary trade-offs have previously been demonstrated between pathogen-induced mortality rates and transmission rates. It remains unclear, however, how such trade-offs impact sub-lethal pathogen-inflicted damage, and whether these trade-offs even occur in broad host-range pathogens. Here, we examine changes over the past 110 years in symptoms induced in maize by the broad host-range pathogen, maize streak virus (MSV).