Virus Transmission Phenotype Is Correlated with Host Adaptation Among Genetically Diverse Populations of the Aphid Schizaphis graminum

ABSTRACT Schizaphis graminum is an important insect pest of several grain crops and an efficient vector of cereal-infecting luteoviruses and poleroviruses. We examined the virus transmission characteristics of several distinct populations and various developmental stages of the aphid. Seven well-characterized S. graminum biotypes maintained at the USDA-ARS laboratory in Stillwater, OK, and two biotypes maintained in New York (one collected in Wisconsin and the other collected in South Carolina) were tested for their ability to transmit five viruses that cause barley yellow dwarf disease (BYD). Four of the Oklahoma biotypes, which do not commonly colonize agronomic crops, and the Wisconsin biotype, were efficient vectors of several viruses. The three other Oklahoma biotypes, which do colonize agronomic crops, and the South Carolina biotype, were poor vectors of all five viruses. Thus, the vector specificity long associated with viruses causing BYD is not limited to the level of aphid species; it clearly ex...