Three-way interactions between the tomato plant, tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) facilitate virus spread.

Plant defense responses can greatly affect plant viruses and their herbivore vectors. The current article reports on plant defense responses involving jasmonic acid (JA), salicylic acid (SA), and proteinase inhibitor (PI) in the three-way interaction between tomato plants, tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). The results showed that feeding by viruliferous B. tabaci increases the longevity and fecundity of nonviruliferous B. tabaci that subsequently feed on the same plant. Feeding by nonviruliferous B. tabaci alone suppressed plant defense responses involving JA and PI but induced responses involving SA. Feeding by viruliferous B. tabaci increased the suppression of plant defenses involving JA and PI but did not increase responses involving SA. These results indicate that the interactive effects of tomato yellow leaf curl virus and B. tabaci on plants increase vector fitness and virus transmission by reducing plant defense.