Identification of Plant Virus Receptor Candidates in the Stylets of Their Aphid Vectors

Abstract

Most noncirculative plant viruses transmitted by insect vectors bind to their mouthparts. They are acquired and inoculated within seconds when insects hop from plant to plant. The receptors involved remain totally elusive due to a long-standing technical bottleneck in working with insect cuticle. Here we characterize the role of the two first cuticular proteins ever identified in arthropod mouthparts. A domain of these proteins is directly accessible at the surface of the cuticle of the acrostyle, an organ at the tip of aphid stylets. The acrostyle has been shown to bind a plant virus, and we consistently demonstrated that one of the identified proteins is involved in viral transmission. Our findings provide an approach to identify proteins in insect mouthparts and point at an unprecedented gene candidate for a plant virus receptor.