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Concurrent Session

Session: Concurrent Session: Microbe-mediated impacts on plant-parasite interactions

Manipulative Hitchhiking: Fusarium Alters Plant and Insect Behavior to Facilitate Disease Spread

Wednesday, July 16, 2025
15:35 - 15:55  
Location: Room P+Q

Tripartite interactions among insect pests, soilborne pathogens, and plants are often overlooked in disease epidemiology. Here, we show that the banana weevil (Cosmopolites sordidus) plays a crucial role in disseminating Fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense (Foc). Infected banana plants emit cues that attract weevils, which become contaminated with fungal propagules upon feeding. These contaminated weevils preferentially move towards healthy plants, promoting pathogen dissemination. Notably, Tropical Race 4 (TR4) was vertically transmitted through at least two generations of weevils, leading to symptomatic infections, while Race 1 persisted externally and in the gut but was not vertically transmitted. Feeding on Foc-infected corms altered weevil behavior in a sex- and strain-specific manner, linked to distinct volatile organic compound profiles. These findings underscore the overlooked role of insect-pathogen-plant interactions and rhizosphere signaling in shaping plant disease dynamics, with important implications for the evolution and management of Fusarium wilt complexes.