Integrated field and laboratory assessment of Swiss grapevine cultivar susceptibility to flavescence doree reveals a central role for plant-vector interactions
- 1Agroscope
Abstract
Cultivar susceptibility strongly influences the epidemiology of vector-borne plant diseases, and understanding cultivar-specific variation can inform management strategies. This is particularly relevant for flavescence doree, an incurable grapevine disease associated with a phytoplasma and transmitted by the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus. In this study, we investigated the susceptibility of the main Swiss varieties, by combining controlled insect-mediated inoculation experiments with complementary field analyses conducted at progressively finer spatial scales. Together, these approaches allowed us to compare both infection probability and phytoplasma relative titre under standardised transmission conditions with disease incidence and relative titre under natural epidemiological conditions. For most cultivars, laboratory results were broadly consistent with field observations. However, a marked discrepancy emerged in the relative infection pattern between the two main grapevine cultivars grown in Switzerland: Chasselas and Pinot Noir. Under controlled conditions, they did not differ significantly in either their probability of infection or the phytoplasma relative titre, indicating no detectable difference in susceptibility to phytoplasma infection. In contrast, Pinot Noir consistently showed higher disease incidence than Chasselas under natural conditions. This pattern was observed across all spatial scales examined, from regional surveys to neighbouring vineyard plots, and was mirrored by higher phytoplasma relative titres. Importantly, under controlled conditions, S. titanus mortality during the one-week inoculation period was significantly higher on Chasselas than on Pinot Noir, indicating that Chasselas may provide a less favourable host for S. titanus. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that differences in field disease incidence between these cultivars may arise from differences in vector performance rather than intrinsic susceptibility to phytoplasma infection. This highlights the importance of considering plant-vector interactions, alongside susceptibility to infection, when assessing cultivar-specific vulnerability to vector-borne plant diseases.
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BibTeX
@misc{canals2026integrated,
title = {{Integrated field and laboratory assessment of Swiss grapevine cultivar susceptibility to flavescence doree reveals a central role for plant-vector interactions}},
author = {J. Cadena i Canals and C. Debonneville and N. Dubuis and I. Kellenberger and M. Jeanrenaud and O. Viret and S. Bilotta and A. Poretti and G. Favre and O. Schumpp},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.21.746194},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.21.746194v2},
note = {CC BY-ND},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Integrated field and laboratory assessment of Swiss grapevine cultivar susceptibility to flavescence doree reveals a central role for plant-vector interactions
AU - J. Cadena i Canals
AU - C. Debonneville
AU - N. Dubuis
AU - I. Kellenberger
AU - M. Jeanrenaud
AU - O. Viret
AU - S. Bilotta
AU - A. Poretti
AU - G. Favre
AU - O. Schumpp
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/21
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.21.746194
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.21.746194v2
AB - Cultivar susceptibility strongly influences the epidemiology of vector-borne plant diseases, and understanding cultivar-specific variation can inform management strategies. This is particularly relevant for flavescence doree, an incurable grapevine disease associated with a phytoplasma and transmitted by the leafhopper Scaphoideus titanus. In this study, we investigated the susceptibility of the main Swiss varieties, by combining controlled insect-mediated inoculation experiments with complementary field analyses conducted at progressively finer spatial scales. Together, these approaches allowed us to compare both infection probability and phytoplasma relative titre under standardised transmission conditions with disease incidence and relative titre under natural epidemiological conditions. For most cultivars, laboratory results were broadly consistent with field observations. However, a marked discrepancy emerged in the relative infection pattern between the two main grapevine cultivars grown in Switzerland: Chasselas and Pinot Noir. Under controlled conditions, they did not differ significantly in either their probability of infection or the phytoplasma relative titre, indicating no detectable difference in susceptibility to phytoplasma infection. In contrast, Pinot Noir consistently showed higher disease incidence than Chasselas under natural conditions. This pattern was observed across all spatial scales examined, from regional surveys to neighbouring vineyard plots, and was mirrored by higher phytoplasma relative titres. Importantly, under controlled conditions, S. titanus mortality during the one-week inoculation period was significantly higher on Chasselas than on Pinot Noir, indicating that Chasselas may provide a less favourable host for S. titanus. Together, these findings support the hypothesis that differences in field disease incidence between these cultivars may arise from differences in vector performance rather than intrinsic susceptibility to phytoplasma infection. This highlights the importance of considering plant-vector interactions, alongside susceptibility to infection, when assessing cultivar-specific vulnerability to vector-borne plant diseases.
ER -