Speaker
Description
Co-infection of hosts by multiple pathogens can significantly increase disease prevalence and severity. In plant hosts, virus infection typically occurs via multiple transmission pathways. Here, we consider vertical transmission (via seeds, typically between growing seasons) and horizontal transmission (via insect vectors, typically within growing seasons). An open question is whether and how co-infection affects virus transmission, particularly seed transmission. We therefore investigate how the virus spread is affected by increased or decreased seed transmission of co-infected plants, compared to singly infected ones, in a semi-discrete model. A bifurcation analysis reveals that there can be two different types of bistability: (1) between a disease-free and a co-infection equilibrium, and (2) between the two boundary equilibria corresponding to singly infected plants. We interpret these results biologically and discuss their implications for plant disease management.
