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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Charleston, South Carolina » Vegetable Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #357021
Research Project: Biological, Genetic and Genomic Based Disease Management for Vegetable Crops

Location: Vegetable Research

Title: Deep sequencing of small RNAs in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci revealed novel microRNAs potentially associated with begomovirus acquisition and transmission

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

Submitted to: Insects
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/21/2020
Publication Date: 8/23/2020
Citation: Hasegawa, D.K., Shamimuzzaman, M., Chen, W., Simmons, A.M., Fei, Z., Ling, K. 2020. Deep sequencing of small RNAs in the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci revealed novel microRNAs potentially associated with begomovirus acquisition and transmission. Insects. 11(9):562. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11090562.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/insects11090562

Interpretive Summary: The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae), a globally-distributed insect pest capable of transmitting hundreds of pathogenic viruses to agricultural crops including tomato, sweet potato, beans, melon, squash, and cassava worldwide, cause billions of dollars of economic losses annually in the U.S. and around the world. In this study, in collaboration with Boyce Thompson Institute, ARS scientists in Charleston, SC revealed a comprehensive microRNA genetic regulatory system in whiteflies that might be involved in acquisition and transmission of a whitefly-transmitted begomovirus, tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Understanding these regulatory gene networks may help to identify new targets that could be used to improve the efficiency of RNA interference to control whitefly.

Technical Abstract: The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, a notorious vector transmit over 300 plant viruses resulting in billions of dollars of economic losses annually on crops worldwide. To gain better understanding on the mechanism in virus transmission, we conducted deep sequencing of small RNAs on whitefly, B. tabaci MEAM1 feeding on tomato plants infected with tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Overall, 160 miRNAs were identified, 66 of which were conserved and 94 were B. tabaci-specific miRNAs. Among those B. tabaci-specific miRNAs, 92 of 94 were newly described in the present study. Two miRNAs, with predicted targets of nuclear receptor (Bta05482) and very-long-chain (3R)-3-hydroxyacyl-CoA dehydratase 2 (Bta10702) respectively, were differentially expressed in whiteflies that fed on TYLCV-infected vs. uninfected plants. To gain better understanding on the regulatory effects of identified miRNAs and their target genes, we referenced the miRNA expression levels with the transcript numbers generated from a previously described transcriptome study. Interestingly, miRNAs expression values were inversely correlated with ~50% of their predicted target gene expression. These analyses could serve as a model to study gene regulation in other arthropod transmission of viruses in plants and animals.