FIG. 8.
Effect in vivo of purified, recombinant TSWV GN (GN-S) on thrips acquisition of TSWV in feeding experiments. Thrips were given 2-h acquisition access periods to BSA, TSWV alone, TSWV plus GN-S, and TSWV plus gB. All treatments contained the same concentrations of virus and/or buffers. Thrips were then allowed to feed on a sucrose solution to clear their guts. Acquisition was measured by immunolabeling with a TSWV nucleocapsid polyclonal antibody. The amount of immunolabeled TSWV was quantified by measuring the average amount of fluorescence (647 nm) in an optical section of a thrips gut, using Adobe Photoshop 7.0. Each bar represents a mean of three or two replicates for experiment, A or B, respectively. Bars headed by different letters are significantly different, with P values of <0.05. (A) Thrips were fed BSA in buffer, TSWV, and a combination of TSWV and GN-S. In a second set of experiments (B), thrips were also fed recombinant HCMV gB and TSWV, which served as another negative control. Thrips guts were imaged with a laser scanning confocal microscope.