38th Annual Meeting of the Society for Invertebrate Pathology

Rhopalosiphum padi virus (RhPV) is an icosahedral aphid virus with a 10 kb positive-sense RNA genome. We screened lepidopteran, dipteran and homopteran cell lines for susceptibility to RhPV following RNA transfection and observed cytopathic effects in homopteran cell lines derived from the glassy winged sharp shooter, Homalodisca coagulate, and the corn leaf hopper, Dalbulus maidis. Infection, viral replication and production of virions was confirmed by northern blot hybridization, RT-PCR, western blot analysis and immunoelectron microscopy. Full-length cDNA clones of RhPV were synthesized. RNA transcripts produced from one of the clones were infectious following transfection of the susceptible cell lines. Infection was confirmed by CPE and immunoelectron microscopy. Virions were purified from infected cells and fed to bird cherry-oat aphids, Rhopalosiphum padi. Aphids tested positive for infection by the RhPV clone by RT-PCR, western blot analysis and immunolocalization by light microscopy, two weeks after acquisition in three out of three replicates.