Temperature and CO2 Level Influence Potato leafroll virus Infection in Solanum tuberosum

We determined the effects of atmospheric temperature ($10-30{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ in $5^{\circ}C$ increments) and carbon dioxide ($CO_2$) levels ($400{\pm}50ppm$, $540{\pm}50ppm$, and $940{\pm}50ppm$) on the infection of Solanum tuberosum cv. Chubaek by Potato leafroll virus (PLRV). Below $CO_2$ levels of $400{\pm}50ppm$, the PLRV infection rate and RNA content in plant tissues increased as the temperature increased to $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$, but declined at higher temperatures. At high $CO_2$ levels ($940{\pm}50ppm$), more plants were infected by PLRV at $30{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ than at 20 or $25{\pm}2^{\circ}C$, whereas PLRV RNA content was unchanged in the $20-30{\pm}2^{\circ}C$ temperature range. The effects of atmospheric $CO_2$ concentration on the acquisition of PLRV by Myzus persicae and accumulation of PLRV RNA in plant tissues were investigated using a growth chamber at $20{\pm}2^{\circ}C$. The M. persicae PLRV RNA content slightly increased at elevated $CO_2$ levels ($940{\pm}50ppm$), but this increase was not statistically significant. Transmission rates of PLRV by Physalis floridana increased as $CO_2$ concentration increased. More PLRV RNA accumulated in potato plants maintained at 540 or $940{\pm}50ppm$ $CO_2$, than in plants maintained at $400{\pm}50ppm$. This is the first evidence of greater PLRV RNA accumulation and larger numbers of S. tuberosum plants infected by PLRV under conditions of combined high $CO_2$ levels ($940{\pm}50ppm$) and high temperature ($30{\pm}2^{\circ}C$).