UC Berkeley

Grapevine leafroll disease is one of the most important virus diseases of grapevines and occurs in every major grape-growing region of the world. The vector-transmission mechanisms of the causative agent, Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3), remain poorly understood. We show that the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus, feeds through a membrane feeding system on GLRaV-3 viral purifications from both V. vinifera and N. benthamiana and transmits the virus to test plants from plants from both species. Building on this strategy, we used an immunofluorescence approach to localize virions to two retention sites in P. ficus mouthparts. Assays testing molecules capable of blocking virus transmission demonstrated that GLRaV-3-transmission by P. ficus could be disrupted. Our results indicate that our membrane feeding system and transmission-blocking assays are a valid approach and can be used to screen other candidate blocking molecules.