Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Insects and Horticulture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #202724
Title: Global relationships of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) revealed using Bayesian analysis of mitochondrial COI DNA sequence

Author
item Boykin, Laura
item Shatters, Robert - Bob
item ROSELL, ROSEMARIE - UNIV. OF ST. THOMAS
item McKenzie, Cindy
item BAGNALL, RUTH ANN - UNIV. OF ST. THOMAS
item DE BARRO, PAUL - CSIRO ENTOMOLOGY
item FROHLICH, DON - UNIV. OF ST. THOMAS

Submitted to: Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 4/14/2007
Publication Date: 5/28/2007
Citation: Boykin, L.M., Shatters, R.G., Rosell, R.C., McKenzie, C.L., Bagnall, R., De Barro, P., Frohlich, D.R. 2007. Global relationships of Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) revealed using Bayesian Analysis of mitochondrial COI DNA sequence. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 44:1306-1319.

Interpretive Summary: Our research is on Bemisia tabaci (whitefly) an organism of both basic and applied interest. Basic evolutionary and phylogenetic analysis provides insight into an organism that exists worldwide as a cryptic species complex. Our data provide an understanding of the relationships among the species/biotypes of this organism(s) and the best correlation to-date of geographical distribution with phylogenetic complexity. From an applied perspective, B. tabaci is a major agricultural pest, whose distribution is influenced heavily by anthropogenic activity. The relationships uncovered in our global phylogeny may provide a useful perspective for studying effects of human activity on global dispersal and evolution of this significant agricultural pest.

Technical Abstract: Bemisia tabaci (Gen.)(Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a species complex that is one of the most devastating agricultural pests worldwide and affects a broad range of food, fiber and ornamental crops. Unfortunately, using parsimony and neighbor joining methods, global phylogenetic relationships of the major races/biotypes of B. tabaci remain unresolved. Aside from the limitations of these methods, phylogenetic analyses have been limited to only small subsets of the global collection of B. tabaci, and thus limited taxon sampling has confounded the analyses. To improve our understanding of global B. tabaci phylogenetic relationships, a Bayesian phylogenetic technique was utilized to elucidate the relationships among all COI DNA sequence data available in Genbank for B. tabaci worldwide (367 specimens). As a result, the first well resolved phylogeny for the B. tabaci species complex was produced showing nine major well resolved (0.70 posterior probability or above) races/biotypes: B. tabaci (Mediterranean/Asia/Africa-B Biotype), B. tabaci (Mediterranean- Q Biotype), B. tabaci (MS Biotype), B. tabaci (Q-related Africa), B. tabaci (Asia I), B. tabaci (Asia II), B. tabaci (New World-A Biotype), B. tabaci (sub-Saharan Africa), and B. tabaci (Uganda sweetpotato). Further analysis of this phylogeny shows a close relationship of the new world B. tabaci with Asian biotypes, and characteristics of the major sub-Saharan Africa clade strongly supports an African origin of B. tabaci due to its position at the base of the global phylogeny, and the diversity of well resolved sub-clades within this group. Bayesian re-analyses of B. tabaci ITS, COI, and a combined data set from a previous study resulted in seven major well resolved races with high posterior probabilities, also showing the utility of the Bayesian method. Relationships of the nine major B.tabaci races/biotypes are discussed herein.