Survey of Vineyard Insects and Plants to Identify Potential Insect Vectors and Noncrop Reservoirs of Grapevine Red Blotch Virus

Abstract

Grapevine red blotch virus (GRBV) is a DNA virus in the family Geminiviridae. This pathogen is the causal agent of grapevine red blotch disease, which affects cultivated grapevines and leads to negative effects on crop quality and yield. GRBV is present in commercial vineyards across North America, indicating that spread might have been largely human mediated. That said, recent surveys have demonstrated that there appears to be secondary transmission, most likely by an insect vector. In this study, vineyard insects and plants were surveyed to identify potential candidate vectors and noncrop plants that could act as reservoirs for this pathogen. Results reconfirm that GRBV is limited to Vitis spp., including both cultivated and wild grapevines. Eleven insect genera or species, field collected in vineyards, tested positive for GRBV using quantitative polymerase chain reaction. These insect taxa include unknown Aphididae, the cicadellids Aceratagallia spp., Acinopterus angulatus, Caladonus coquilleti, Colladonus montanus reductus, Colladonus sp., Empoasca spp., Erythroneura elegantula, and Scaphytopius graneticus, along with the membracid Spissistilus festinus and an unknown delphacid. Of these organisms, S. festinus is already known to be capable of transmitting GRBV, and Scaphytopius graneticus may merit closer evaluation as a candidate vector. [Graphic: see text] Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Keywords

• red blotch
• grapevine
• vector
• Vitis
• Geminiviridae