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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #349618
Research Project: Biological, Genetic and Genomic Based Disease Management for Vegetable Crops

Location: Vegetable Research

Title: Genome-wide piRNA profiles of virus transmitting whitefly Bemisia tabaci during feeding on TYLCV-infected tomato

Author
item Shamimuzzaman, Md - Shamim
item Hasegawa, Daniel
item CHEN, WENBO - Boyce Thompson Institute
item Simmons, Alvin
item FEI, ZHANGJUN - Boyce Thompson Institute
item Ling, Kai-Shu

Submitted to: Phytopathology
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/31/2018
Publication Date: 10/1/2018
Citation: Shamimuzzaman, M., Hasegawa, D.K., Chen, W., Simmons, A.M., Fei, Z., Ling, K. 2018. Genome-wide piRNA profiles of virus transmitting whitefly Bemisia tabaci during feeding on TYLCV-infected tomato. Phytopathology. 108:S1.74-S1.75. https://doi.org/10.1094/phyto-108-10-s1.1.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1094/phyto-108-10-s1.1

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Small RNAs (sRNAs) are 20-31 nucleotide (nt) non-coding regulatory elements commonly found in plants and animals, which are classified as short interfering RNA (siRNA), microRNA (miRNA) and Piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA). The whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 is a vector capable of transmitting many devastating plant viruses, including Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). To investigate potential effect of sRNA expression in whiteflies affected by virus acquisition and transmission, we performed a genome-wide profiling of piRNAs in whiteflies feeding on TYLCV-tomato and virus-free tomato for 24, 48 and 72 h. Results revealed that piRNAs expression was clustered along the whitefly genome. piRNAs ranging from 564,395 to 1,715,652 were identified and aggregated in 57 to 96 clusters in sRNA libraries prepared at three time points. Comparative analysis across three time points identified 53 commonly expressed piRNA clusters. We also identified five TYLCV-induced and 24 TYLCV-suppressed piRNA clusters. About 62% of all identified piRNAs are derived from non-coding sequences that include intergenic regions, introns and UTRs with unknown functions. The remaining 38% of piRNAs are derived from coding sequences (CDS) and repeat elements. Six protein coding genes were targeted by the TYLCV-induced piRNAs, but their function in anti-viral defense or virus transmission is not obvious. Transposable elements targeted by piRNA clusters include both class I retrotransposons such as Gypsy, Copia, and LINEs and class II DNA transposons such as MITE, hAT, and TcMar. Our enhanced understanding of whitefly piRNA pathway might facilitate the identification of novel targets for RNAi control.