Variation of endosymbiont and (CTV) titers in the Huanglongbing insect vector, on CTV-infected plants.

" Liberibacter asiaticus" (CLas) is a notorious agent that causes Citrus Huanglongbing (HLB), which is transmitted by (). We recently found that the acquisition and transmission of CLas by was facilitated by (CTV), a widely distributed virus in the field. In this study, we further studied whether different CTV strains manipulate the host preference of , and whether endosymbionts variation is related to CTV strains in . The results showed that the non-viruliferous preferred to select the shoots infected with CTV, without strain differences was observed in the selection. However, the viruliferous prefered to select the mixed strain that is similar to the field's. Furthermore, effectively acquired the CTV within 2-12 h depending on the strains of the virus. The persistence period of CTV in was longer than 24 days, without reduction of the CTV titers being observed. These results provide a foundation for understanding the transmission mode of on CTV. During the process of CTV acquisition and persistence, the titers of main endosymbionts in showed similar variation trend, but their relative titers were different at different time points. The titers of the " Profftella armatura" and CTV tended to be positively correlated, and the titers of and " Carsonella ruddii" were mostly negatively related with titers of CT31. These results showed the relationship among , endosymbionts, and CTV and provided useful information for further research on the interactions between and CLas, which may benefit the development of approaches for the prevention of CLas transmission and control of citrus HLB.