Some plant pathogens are capable of manipulating their insect vectors and plant hosts in a way that disease transmission is enhanced. Aster leafhopper (Macrosteles quadrilineatus Forbes) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) is the main vector of Aster Yellows Phytoplasma (Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris) in the Canadian Prairies, which causes Aster Yellows (AY) disease in over 300 plant species including cereals and oilseeds. However, little is known about the host range of Aster leafhoppers or their host-choice selection behavior in this geographical region. Several crop and noncrop species commonly found in the Canadian Prairies were evaluated as food and reproductive hosts for Aster leafhoppers through no-choice bioassays. To study possible effects of pathogen infection, AY-uninfected and AY-infected insects were used. Cereals and some noncrops like fleabane were suitable reproductive hosts for Aster leafhoppers, with numbers of offspring observed in treatments using both AY-uninfected and AY-infected insects, suggesting an egg-laying preference on these plant species. Development was similar across the different plant species, except for canola and sowthistle, where growth indexes were lower. Sex-ratios of Aster leafhopper adults did not differ among the plant species or with respect to AY infection. Potential fecundity differed across plant species and was affected by the infection status of the insect. These findings have implications for AY epidemiology and suggest that while cereals can be suitable host plants for Aster leafhopper oviposition and development, some noncrop species could act as alternate hosts for leafhoppers that migrate into the Canadian Prairies before emergence of cereal and canola crops.

中文翻译：

---

紫菀叶蝉（半翅目：蝉科）在加拿大大草原选定寄主植物上的产卵行为和发育

一些植物病原体能够以增强疾病传播的方式操纵其昆虫载体和植物宿主。紫菀叶蝉（Macrosteles quadrilineatus Forbes）（半翅目：Cicadellidae）是加拿大大草原中紫菀黄植原体（Candidatus Phytoplasma asteris）的主要媒介，它会在包括谷物和油籽在内的300多种植物中引起紫菀黄（AY）病害。然而，人们对该地理区域内紫菀叶蝉的寄主范围或其寄主选择行为知之甚少。加拿大大草原常见的几种作物和非作物物种通过无选择生物测定被评估为紫菀叶蝉的食物和繁殖宿主。为了研究病原体感染的可能影响，使用了 AY 未感染和 AY 感染的昆虫。谷物和一些非作物（如胡荽）是紫菀叶蝉的合适繁殖宿主，在使用未感染 AY 和感染 AY 昆虫的处理中观察到的后代数量，表明这些植物物种偏好产卵。不同植物物种的发育相似，除了油菜和芥菜，它们的生长指数较低。紫菀叶蝉成虫的性别比例在植物物种之间或在 AY 感染方面没有差异。潜在的繁殖力因植物物种而异，并受昆虫感染状态的影响。这些发现对 AY 流行病学有影响，并表明虽然谷物可以成为紫菀叶蝉产卵和发育的合适宿主植物，