Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus Inoculation

TYLCV-infected tomato plants were obtained by Agrobacterium tumefaciens- mediated inoculation using a cloned TYLCV genome (GenBank accession ID: AM282874), which was originally isolated from tomato plants in Shanghai, China [9] . Inoculation was carried out at the 3 true-leaf stage. Viral infection of test plants was confirmed by the development of characteristic leaf curl symptoms and was further validated by the molecular analysis, as described below. Viruliferous B. tabaci were obtained by caging adults (2 days post-emergence) with a TYLCV-infected tomato plant for a 72 h acquisition access period (AAP) [41] (link). Accordingly, non-viruliferous adults were collected from virus-free tomato plants two days post-inoculation and caged onto leaves of uninfected tomato plants for a 72 h AAP.