Interaction of the mango bud mite, Aceria mangiferae, with fusarium mangiferae, causal agent of mango malformation disease

Abstract It has been suggested in the literature that the mango bud mite, Aceria mangiferae, plays an important role in the epidemiology of mango malformation caused by Fusarium mangiferae. To determine whether the mite can carry the fungal conidia on its body, bud mites collected from infested buds in the orchard were exposed to a gfp (green fluorescent protein)-marked isolate of the fungus. After 24 hours the mites were removed and mounted for microscopic observation. The gfp fluorescing conidia were observed on the examined mites. Conidia of the pathogen did not seem to cling to any particular part of the mites' body. To determine whether the mango bud mite can move conidia into the apical bud an experiment was performed on potted mango plants using the gfp-marked isolate and bud mites. Each plant was treated with one of the following treatments: 1 - agar plugs bearing bud mites and the gfp-marked pathogen were placed on a leaf near an apical bud; 2 - agar plugs bearing bud mites were placed on a leaf, near an apical bud; 3 - agar plugs with the gfp-marked isolate were placed on a leaf near an apical bud; 4 - untreated control. Bud mites were found only in apical buds of treatments 1 and 2 and gfp-marked conidia were found in bud bracts only in treatment 1. This demonstrates that the mango bud mite is able to carry F. mangiferae conidia on its body and transfer them into the apical bud.