Identification of the Wheat Curl Mite as the Vector of the High Plains Virus of Corn and Wheat

Authors

Dallas L. Seifers, Kansas State UniversityFollow
Tom L. Harvey, Kansas State University
T. J. Martin, Kansas State University
Stanley G. Jensen, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Date of this Version

10-1997

Citation

Seifers, D. L., Harvey, T. L., Martin, T. J., and Jensen, S. G. 1997. Identification of the wheat curl mite as the vector of the High Plains virus of corn and wheat. Plant Dis. 81:1161-1166.

Comments

Copyright © 1997 The American Phytopathological Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

Wheat with virus-like symptoms (extracts containing a 33-kDa protein in sodium dodecyl sulfate- polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, negative in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to wheat streak mosaic virus, and not infectious in a backassay to other wheat) reacted positively to antiserum made against a protein purified from symptomatic corn infected with the High Plains virus (HPV), indicating a serological relationship between the corn and wheat pathogens. The wheat curl mite (WCM, Aceria tosichella Keifer) was identified as the vector of the virus and caused persistent infection of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in greenhouse experiments. The HPV was recovered in the field from naturally infected wheat where the number of HPV-infected plants decreased with increasing distance from the WCM source in volunteer wheat.