Quantification of southern rice black streaked dwarf virus and rice black streaked dwarf virus in the organs of their vector and nonvector insect over time

•Accumulation of >200 SRBSDV or RBSDV GEC/ng total RNA in the insect gut is needed for further spread into other organs.•SRBSDV could not disseminate from the gut of SBPH due to lower virus content.•Transmission frequency was correlated with SRBSDV or RBSDV content in the salivary gland of vector.

Southern rice black streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV) and rice black streaked dwarf virus (RBSDV) are serious rice-infecting reoviruses, which are transmitted by different planthoppers in a persistent propagative manner. In this study, we quantitatively compared the spatial distribution of SRBSDV and RBSDV contents over time in their vector and nonvector insects using real time-PCR. Genome equivalent copies (GEC) were assessed every 2 days from 0 to 14 days after a 3-days acquisition access period (AAP) on infected plants. Results revealed 293.2 ± 21.6 to 404.1 ± 46.4 SRBSDV GEC/ng total RNA in whole body of white-backed planthopper (WBPH, Sogatella furcifera) at day 0 and 12 and 513.5 ± 88.4 to 816.8 ± 110.7 RBSDV GEC/ng total RNA in the whole body of small brown planthopper (SBPH, Laodelphax striatellus) at day 0 and 14, respectively, after 3-days AAP. Highest GEC of both viruses were found in the gut of their respective vectors. Although SRBSDV was detected in the gut of SBPH, it did not spread into the hemolymph or other organs. After an 8-day latent period, the transmission efficiency of SRBSDV and RBSDV by their respective vectors was significantly positively correlated with GEC in the salivary gland (r2 = 0.7808, P = 0.0036 and r2 = 0.9351, P < 0.0001, respectively, at α = 0.05). Together, these results confirm that accumulation of >200 SRBSDV or RBSDV GEC/ng total RNA in the gut of vector, indicated threshold for further spread and the virus content in the salivary gland was significantly correlated with transmission efficiency by their respective vectors.