Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-0901, USA.
Phytopathology. 2010 Dec;100(12):1307-14. doi: 10.1094/PHYTO-04-10-0117.
Fungus gnats have been shown to transmit a variety of plant-pathogenic fungi that produce aerial dispersal stages. However, few studies have examined potential interactions between fungus gnats and oomycetes, including Pythium spp. A series of laboratory experiments were conducted to determine whether fungus gnat adults are vectors of several common greenhouse Pythium spp., including Pythium aphanidermatum, P. irregulare, and P. ultimum. An additional objective was to determine whether P. aphanidermatum can be maintained transstadially in the gut of a fungus gnat larva through the pupal stadium to be transmitted by the subsequent adult. Adult fungus gnats did not pick up infectious Pythium propagules from diseased plants and transmit them to healthy plants in any experiment. Species-specific primers and a probe for real-time polymerase chain reaction were developed to detect the presence of P. aphanidermatum DNA in fungus gnat tissue samples. P. aphanidermatum DNA was detectable in the larval and pupal stages; however, none was detected in adult fungus gnats. These results are in agreement with previous studies that have suggested that adult fungus gnats are unlikely vectors of Pythium spp.
菌蚊已被证明可以传播多种产生气生扩散阶段的植物病原真菌。然而，很少有研究检查菌蚊和卵菌之间的潜在相互作用，包括腐霉属。进行了一系列实验室实验，以确定成体菌蚊是否是几种常见温室腐霉属的媒介，包括瓜果腐霉、不规则腐霉和终极腐霉。另一个目的是确定瓜果腐霉是否可以在菌蚊幼虫的肠道中通过蛹期进行转代，从而在随后的成虫中传播。在任何实验中，成年菌蚊都没有从患病植物上获得传染性腐霉属繁殖体并将其传播到健康植物上。为了检测菌蚊组织样本中瓜果腐霉 DNA 的存在，开发了用于实时聚合酶链反应的物种特异性引物和探针。瓜果腐霉 DNA 可在幼虫和蛹期检测到；然而，在成年菌蚊中均未检测到。这些结果与之前的研究一致，即成年菌蚊不太可能是腐霉属的媒介。
