Cassava mosaic disease (CMD), caused by cassava mosaic geminiviruses (CMGs), is a major constraint to the cassava crop in Africa and southeastern Asia. Here, we investigated the ability of acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM), a functional analog of salicylic acid (SA), to trigger systemic acquired resistance (SAR) against two CMGs, namely African cassava mosaic virus (ACMV) and East African cassava mosaic Cameroon virus (EACMCV) in Nicotiana benthamiana. ASM treatment delayed the time to first viral symptoms appearance, reduced virus infection rate, and attenuated symptoms. Furthermore, ASM caused an enhanced recovery from symptoms of both viruses and inhibited plant death observed in N. benthamiana plants infected by EACMCV. This study further showed that ASM induced resistance to the whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius), the vector of CMGs, in cassava. Notably, we observed that ASM treatment affected adult whitefly feeding preference and oviposition in cassava under both choice and no-choice conditions. A significant reduction in whitefly adult, egg, and nymph populations was observed irrespective of ASM treatment. The results of this study show that ASM has the potential to control both CMGs and their whitefly vector which is an important first step toward managing whitefly and cassava viruses.

由木薯花叶双生病毒 (CMG) 引起的木薯花叶病 (CMD) 是非洲和东南亚木薯作物的主要制约因素。在这里，我们研究了水杨酸 (SA) 的功能类似物 acibenzolar-S-methyl (ASM) 触发针对两种 CMG，即非洲木薯花叶病毒 (ACMV) 和东非木薯的系统性获得性抗性 (SAR) 的能力本氏烟草中的花叶喀麦隆病毒 (EACMCV) 。ASM 治疗延迟了首次出现病毒症状的时间，降低了病毒感染率并减轻了症状。此外，ASM 导致两种病毒症状的恢复增强，并抑制了在本氏烟草中观察到的植物死亡EACMCV感染的植物。这项研究进一步表明，ASM 诱导了对木薯中 CMG 载体粉虱Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) 的抗性。值得注意的是，我们观察到 ASM 处理在选择和非选择条件下影响成年粉虱取食偏好和木薯中的产卵。无论 ASM 处理如何，都观察到粉虱成虫、卵和若虫种群的显着减少。这项研究的结果表明，ASM 具有控制 CMG 及其粉虱载体的潜力，这是管理粉虱和木薯病毒的重要第一步。