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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Auburn, Alabama » Soil Dynamics Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #420187
Research Project: Integrated Crop Disease Mitigation through Improved Understanding of Relationships between Genetics, Environment, and Management

Location: Soil Dynamics Research

Title: Decoding the viral community in soybean thrips (Neohydatothrips variabilis) through RNA-Seq suggests presence of insect, plant and fungal viruses in Auburn, AL, 2023

Author
item SHARMA, AASMA - AUBURN UNIVERSITY
item ZHAO, CHAOYANG
item MARTIN, KATHLEEN - AUBURN UNIVERSITY

Submitted to: National Cotton Council Beltwide Cotton Conference
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 11/6/2024
Publication Date: 1/15/2025
Citation: Sharma, A., Zhao, C., Martin, K.M. 2025. Decoding the viral community in soybean thrips (Neohydatothrips variabilis) through RNA-Seq suggests presence of insect, plant and fungal viruses in Auburn, AL, 2023 [abstract]. 2025 Beltwide Cotton Conferences, New Orleans, LA. Jan 14-16, 2025.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Soybean thrips (Neohydatothrips variabilis): Thysanoptera, Thripidae is a cosmopolitan pest and is an important vector potential for many viral diseases including soybean vein necrosis virus (SVNV). A previous meta-transcriptome study analyzed the total RNA of N. variabilis from the samples pooled from eight states in the Midwest USA. To discover the viruses present in insects in Alabama, we utilized RNA-Seq to sequence total RNA of N. variabilis collected in Auburn, Alabama in 2023. Fifteen viruses were discovered through metagenomic analysis. We characterized the fifteen viruses belonging to Bunyavirales (4), Durnavirales (1), Ghabrivirales (1), Mononegavirales (1),Patatavirales (1), Wolframvirales (3) and unclassified orders (4).The best matches to viruses that we found were discovered previously from USA, Japan, Korea and Spain. Out of the fifteen viruses, ten are potential insect-infecting viruses, one is both plant- and insect-infecting virus, one is strictly a plant-infecting virus, and three are potential mycoviruses. The three mycoviruses are novel with less than 80% amino acid identity. This study is a novel discovery for the characterization of viruses at the state level, which will help us to understand potential crop threats in the future.