Barley yellow dwarf virus

Barley yellow dwarf is a plant disease caused by the barley yellow dwarf virus, and is the most widely distributed viral disease of cereals. It affects the economically important crop species barley, oats, wheat, maize, triticale and rice.

 

Barley yellow dwarf virus (BYDV) is a positive sense single-stranded RNA virus; the viron is not enveloped in a lipid coating. The virus is transmitted by aphids, and the taxonomy of the virus is based on genome organisation, serotype differences  and on the primary aphid vector of each isolate.

 

Wheat plants dwarfed after infection with BYDV.

When aphids feed on the phloem of the leaf, the virus is transmitted to the phloem cells. Once inside the plant, the virus begins to replicate and assemble new virions. This process requires significant metabolic input from the plant, and causes the symptoms of barley yellow dwarf disease.

 

The symptoms of barley yellow dwarf vary with the affected crop cultivar, the age of the plant at the time of infection, the strain of the virus, and environmental conditions, and can be confused with other disease or physiological disorders. Symptoms appear approximately 14 days after infection. Affected plants show a yellowing or reddening of leaves (on oats and some wheats), stunting, an upright posture of thickened stiff leaves, reduced root growth, delayed (or no) heading, and a reduction in yield. The heads of affected plants tend to remain erect and become black and discoloured during ripening due to colonization by saprotrophic fungi. Young plants are the most susceptible.

Infected wheat leaves have a reduced ability to photosynthesise.

The virus is transmitted from the phloem when the aphid feeds. When the aphid feeds, virions go to the aphid's hind gut, the coat protein of the virus is recognised by the hindgut epithelium, and the virion is allowed to pass into the insect's hemolymph, where it can remain indefinitely, but the virus cannot reproduce inside the aphid.The virus is actively transported into the accessory salivary gland to be released into salivary canals and ducts. The virus is then excreted in the aphid saliva during its next feeding.

The host range of BYDVs consists of more than 150 species in the Poaceae; a large number of grasses both annual and perennial are alternate hosts to BYVD and can serve as reservoirs of the virus