Long‐range aphid transport hypothesis for maize dwarf mosaic virus: history and distribution in Minnesota, USA

SUMMARY In 1977 a sudden and dramatic epidemic of maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV) struck commercial fields of sweet corn in Minnesota causing multi-million dollar losses. The epidemic was unusual in that MDMV historically had been confined to the southern United States and Ohio River Valley with only occasional occurrences reported from states bordering Canada. An extensive 5-yr study of MDMV in Minnesota revealed a low incidence of MDMV from 1978 - 81, and commercial fields badly infected in 1977 were not again infected. No evidence of wild host plants was found, neither was seed transmission in maize considered to be important, and MDMV strain ratios changed from year to year as did the distribution of infected fields. Concomitant studies on aphid retention revealed that MDMV could be retained by aphid vectors for more than 19 h, and that the 1977 epidemic was associated with a weather pattern that could be linked to potential aphid transport from the southern Great Plains of North America. All circumstantial evidence led to a long-distance aphid transport hypothesis. This may be worth considering whenever unexpected epidemics of aphid-transmitted non-persistent viruses occur in regions where the particular virus is not endemic, and may also explain the widespread distribution of certain aphid-transmitted non-persistent viruses.

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