Enhanced Heat Tolerance Dataset of Virus-Infected Aphids and Host Plant Species 

The project is focused on the topic, 'enhanced heat tolerance of virus-infected aphids lead to niche expansion and reduced interspecific competition. The two aphid species studied are Rhopalosiphum padi and Rhopalosiphum maidis. The project had some of the following objectives: [1] Spatial distribution of two aphid species on the host plants [2] Upper thermal limits of two aphid species. [3] Effects of the viral infection on the host plant thermal profile. [4] Levels of expression of heat shock protein genes of virus-free and viruliferous aphids. [5] Locomotor capacity of aphids, effects of viruses on the locomotor capacity. [6] Effects of viral infection, temperature, and competition on the lifespan and fecundity of R. padi [7] Effects of viral infection, temperature, and competition on the lifespan and fecundity of R. maidis [8] Temperature of acrylic tubes used on aphid experiments. [9] Thermal lethal dose 50 of virus-free and viruliferous aphids [10] Thermal preference of virus-free and viruliferous aphids. This information can be very useful for ecologist working on insect population dynamics as well as physiologist and eco-physiologists doing meta-analyses of expression of heat shock protein genes induced by symbionts. 

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Viral infection can alter the interactions of host and vectors with other species, but the broader ecological implications of such effects are little known. Here we show that an aphid-vectored plant virus (BYDV-PAV) increases both the temperature of infected plants and the heat tolerance of its vector (Rhopalosiphum padi), leading to an expansion of an 8 °C increase in R. padi thermal tolerance, which was associated with the up-regulation of several heat-shock protein genes. This enhanced thermal tolerance allowed the vector to occupy higher and warmer regions of infected host plants and thereby escape competition with a larger aphid (R. maidis). 

Data not provided.