Data from: <i>Wolbachia </i>infection modifies phloem feeding behavior but not plant virus transmission by a hemipteran host

<p dir="ltr"><i>Wolbachia</i>-infected and uninfected subpopulations of beet leafhoppers, <i>Circulifer tenellus</i> (Baker) (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae), co-occur in the Columbia Basin region of Washington and Oregon. While facultative endosymbionts such as <i>Hamiltonella defensa</i> have demonstrably altered feeding/probing behavior in hemipteran hosts, the behavioral phenotypes conferred by <i>Wolbachia</i> to its insect hosts, including feeding/probing, are largely understudied. We studied the feeding/probing behavior of beet leafhoppers from in-house colonies with and without <i>Wolbachia </i>on plants using electropenetrography, along with corresponding inoculation rates of beet curly top virus (BCTV), a phloem-limited plant pathogen vectored by beet leafhoppers. Insects carrying BCTV with and without <i>Wolbachia </i>were individually recorded for four hours while interacting with a potato plant, and wavelengths annotated following established conventions. Virus inoculation rates and the duration of phloem salivation events did not vary. <i>Wolbachia</i>-infected insects more than tripled the duration of phloem ingestion, but despite this, <i>Wolbachia</i> infection was linked with marginally lower, not enhanced, acquisition. Regardless, results suggest potential for <i>Wolbachia </i>to increase the acquisition rate of other phloem-limited plant pathogens.</p>