Open AccessThe inheritance by an insect vector of the ability to transmit a plant virus
Author(s) -
H. H. Storey
Publication year - 1932
Publication title -
proceedings of the royal society of london. series b, containing papers of a biological character
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2053-9185
pISSN - 0950-1193
DOI - 10.1098/rspb.1932.0077
Subject(s) - inheritance (genetic algorithm) , vector (molecular biology) , biology , transmission (telecommunications) , virus , plant virus , insect , virus diseases , virology , computer science , ecology , genetics , telecommunications , gene , recombinant dna
The leaf hopper,Cicadulina mbila Naude, is normally an efficient vector of the virus of streak disease of maize (Storey, 1925). I have, however, encountered exceptional individuals of this insect-species which were unable to transmit the virus (Storey, 1928). An attempt to discover the reason for their anomalous behaviour led me to undertake studies of the breeding of this species. The results so obtained, which show that the ability to transmit is an hereditary character, have been briefly reported (Storey, 1931), and I now present a full account of this work. Since these studies introduce a new conception into pathology, I find it necessary to give my definition of certain current terms and to utilise two new ones. I employtransmission in the restricted sense of the act of transfer of a virus by a vector from a diseased to a healthy plant in thenatural process of that vector's feeding . I introduce the termactivity to denote an insect’s inherent potentiality to transmit a virus ;inactivity to denote the absence of that inherent potentiality. An insect isviruliferous ornon-viruliferous according as it is, or is not, actually carrying a virus in such a way that it inoculates that virus into a plant on which it feeds, and in consequence causes the plant to develop the symptoms of the disease.