Location of geminiviruses in Bemisia tabaci biotype B
Tomato mottle (EPPO A1 quarantine pest) and cabbage leaf curl geminiviruses were located in their vector Bemisia tabaci biotype B (EPPO A2 quarantine pest) by using a new technique (indirect immunofluorescent labelling with monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies in freshly dissected whiteflies). Both viruses were observed in the anterior region of the midgut and filter-chamber of adult whiteflies. Tomato mottle geminivirus was also detected in salivary glands. Further studies are needed to discover mechanisms by which geminiviruses enter whitefly cells, and to determine the path of movement through the insect body. In addition, the possible replication of viruses within B. tabaci is still unclear. However, the following scenario is proposed by the authors: 'the virus is ingested from plant tissue, up the food canal of the stylets, through the esophagus and foregut, into the filter-chamber and midgut where the virus must pass through these membranes into the hemolymph. The virus moves through the hemolymph until contacting the salivary gland membrane, here the virus must pass through the barrier of salivary gland membrane to finally move through to the salivary ducts and be salivated out through the salivary canal of the stylets, thus being injected into plant cells.'
Sources
Hunter, W.B.; Hiebert, E.; Webb, S.E.; Tsai, J.H.; Polston, J.E. (1998) Location of geminiviruses in the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae).
Plant Disease, 82(10), 1147-1151.