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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Ithaca, New York » Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture & Health » Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #417322
Research Project: Management and Biology of Arthropod Pests and Arthropod-borne Plant Pathogens

Location: Emerging Pests and Pathogens Research

Title: Genome-wide association study reveals genes regulating vector competency of Diaphorina citri, insect vector of Huanglongbing (HLB)

Author
item STUEHLER, DOUGLAS - Oak Ridge Institute For Science And Education (ORISE)
item MANN, MARIA - Cornell University
item KHAIPHO-BURCH, MERRITT - Cornell University
item COSTA-NETO, GERMANO - Cornell University
item LONG, EDWARD - Cornell University
item Buckler, Edward - Ed
item Heck, Michelle

Submitted to: International Research Conference on Huanglongbing
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/1/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) have revolutionized scientific insight and the potential to examine complex diseases. Analysis of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), across an entire genome, identifies novel loci linked to a wide range of traits of both agricultural and medicinal significance. In this study, we performed a multi-population GWAS on 500 adult Diaphorina citri, the insect vector of Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas), to investigate the genetic components of diverse acquisition phenotypes. D. citri adults were collected from four citrus groves in southeast Florida, USA, and the CLas acquisition phenotype for each insect was estimated using the absolute titer of CLas, as measured by qPCR. Haplotyping was performed with GATK, and imputation was performed with BEAGLE to increase the number of markers available for analysis. The R-package rTASSEL then examined the imputed-markers to identify hundreds of SNPs significantly associated with acquisition phenotypes. A high-quality reference genome, assembled with PacBio long reads, allowed for accurate SNP calling and loci association. Furthermore, mitochondrial haplotyping of nearly 700 D. citri mitochondrial genomes uncovered globally distributed haplotypes, as well as haplotypes within local Florida populations. This study provides novel insight into the genetics underlaying vector-biology and promotes further research to identify therapeutics which prevent insect-vector disease acquisition and transmission.