Aphids are the most prolific vectors of plant viruses resulting in significant yield losses to crops worldwide. Potato virus Y (PVY) is transmitted in a non-persistent manner by 65 species of aphids. With the increasing acreage of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) (Rosales: Cannabaceae) in the U.S, we were interested to know if the cannabis aphid (Phorodon cannabis Passerini) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a potential vector of PVY. Here, we conduct transmission assays and utilize the electrical penetration graph (EPG) technique to determine whether cannabis aphids can transmit PVY to hemp (host) and potato (non-host) (Solanum tuberosum L.) (Solanales: Solanaceace). We show for the first time that the cannabis aphid is an efficient vector of PVY to hemp (96%) and potato (91%) using cohorts of aphids. In contrast, individual aphids transmitted the virus more efficiently to hemp (63%) compared to potato (19%). During the initial 15 minutes of EPG recordings, aphids demonstrated lower number and time spent performing intracellular punctures on potato compared to hemp, which may in part explain low virus transmission to potato using individual aphids. During the entire 8-hour recording, viruliferous aphids spent less time ingesting phloem compared to non-viruliferous aphids on hemp. This reduced host suitability could potentially cause aphids to disperse to more suitable hosts thereby increasing virus transmission. Overall, our study shows that cannabis aphid is an efficient vector of PVY, and that virus infection and host plant suitability affect feeding behaviors of the cannabis aphid in ways which may increase virus transmission.

This dataset was collected from electrical penetration graph (EPG) analysis experiments which were utilized to observe differences in feeding behaviors of cannabis aphids which were subjected to four treatments. The treatments were chosen in order to observe effects of virus presence in the aphid and host plant suitability on feeding behaviors of the cannabis aphid. The treatments were 1) non-viruliferous aphid probing on hemp, 2) non-viruliferous aphid probing on potato, 3) viruliferous aphid probing on hemp, 4) viruliferous aphid probing on potato. This dataset includes grids (.ana files) obtained from analysis of recorded EPG waveforms in Stylet software; R files containing statistical analysis between treatments; R files containing construction of figures; .csv files containing the outputs from the EPG excel macro worksheet developed by Sarria et al. (2009). Three different time periods of the EPG recording were analyzed (initial 15 minutes, initial 30 minutes, and entire 8 hours).

This dataset was also collected from individual transmission assays (using one cannabis aphid per plant) and cohort transmission assays (using groups of 20 cannabis aphids per plant). Data for both individual and cohort assays are contained as separate .xlsx files.

Additionally, this dataset includes data from a population growth experiment utilizing cannabis aphids and potato plants to confirm potato as a non-host for the cannabis aphid. This data is presented in supplementary_table_1.xlsx.

There are not R files associated with the treatment of viruliferous aphid probing on potato because there were not enough replicates to allow for statistical analysis. However, the .csv files and .ana grids have been included in this dataset. The reason for different sample sizes in different time periods of the same treatments (i.e. 15 minutes non-viruliferous aphid probing on hemp n=21 and 8 hours non-viruliferous aphid probing on hemp n=23) is because analysis was only performed on aphids which probed, and some aphids made their first probe after the initial 15 minutes had passed, so they were excluded from the 15 minute analysis.