Dataset Information

The immune strategy and stress response of the Mediterranean species of the Bemisia tabaci complex to an orally delivered bacterial pathogen.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, a notorious agricultural pest, has complex relationships with diverse microbes. The interactions of the whitefly with entomopathogens as well as its endosymbionts have received great attention, because of their potential importance in developing novel whitefly control technologies. To this end, a comprehensive understanding on the whitefly defense system is needed to further decipher those interactions.

Methodology/principal findings

We conducted a comprehensive investigation of the whitefly's defense responses to infection, via oral ingestion, of the pathogen, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, using RNA-seq technology. Compared to uninfected whiteflies, 6 and 24 hours post-infected whiteflies showed 1,348 and 1,888 differentially expressed genes, respectively. Functional analysis of the differentially expressed genes revealed that the mitogen associated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway was activated after P. aeruginosa infection. Three knottin-like antimicrobial peptide genes and several components of the humoral and cellular immune responses were also activated, indicating that key immune elements recognized in other insect species are also important for the response of B. tabaci to pathogens. Our data also suggest that intestinal stem cell mediated epithelium renewal might be an important component of the whitefly's defense against oral bacterial infection. In addition, we show stress responses to be an essential component of the defense system.

Conclusions/significance

We identified for the first time the key immune-response elements utilized by B. tabaci against bacterial infection. This study provides a framework for future research into the complex interactions between whiteflies and microbes.

SUBMITTER: Zhang CR

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3983193 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

The immune strategy and stress response of the Mediterranean species of the Bemisia tabaci complex to an orally delivered bacterial pathogen.

Zhang Chang-Rong CR Zhang Shan S Xia Jun J Li Fang-Fang FF Xia Wen-Qiang WQ Liu Shu-Sheng SS Wang Xiao-Wei XW

PloS one 20140410 4

<h4>Background</h4>The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, a notorious agricultural pest, has complex relationships with diverse microbes. The interactions of the whitefly with entomopathogens as well as its endosymbionts have received great attention, because of their potential importance in developing novel whitefly control technologies. To this end, a comprehensive understanding on the whitefly defense system is needed to further decipher those interactions.<h4>Methodology/principal findings</h4>We con ...[more]

PMID: 24722540

Similar Datasets

Project description:BackgroundThe whiteflies under the name Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Aleyrodidae: Hemiptera) are species complex of at least 31 cryptic species some of which are globally invasive agricultural pests. Previously, the mitochondrial genome (mitogenome) of the indigenous New World B. tabaci species was sequenced and major differences of gene order from the postulated whitefly ancestral gene order were found. However, the sequence and gene order of mitogenomes in other B. tabaci species are unknown. In addition, the sequence divergences and gene expression profiles of mitogenomes in the B. tabaci species complex remain completely unexplored.ResultsIn this study, we obtained the complete mitogenome (15,632 bp) of the invasive Mediterranean (MED), which has been identified as the type species of the B. tabaci complex. It encodes 37 genes, including 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 2 ribosomal RNAs and 22 transfer RNAs (tRNA). Comparative analyses of the mitogenomes from MED and New World (previously published) species reveal that there are no gene arrangements. Based on the Illumina sequencing data, the gene expression profile of the MED mitogenome was analyzed. We found that a number of genes were polyadenylated and the partial stop codons in cox1, cox2 and nd5 are completed via polyadenylation that changed T to the TAA stop codon. In addition, combining the transcriptome with the sequence alignment data, the possible termination site of some PCGs were defined. Our analyses also revealed that atp6 and atp8, nd4 and nd4l, nd6 and cytb were found on the same cistronic transcripts, whereas the other mature mitochondrial transcripts were monocistronic. Furthermore, RT-PCR analyses of the mitochondrial PCGs expression in different developmental stages revealed that the expression level of individual mitochondrial genes varied in each developmental stage of nymph, pupa and adult. Interestingly, mRNA levels showed significant differences among genes located in the same transcription unit suggesting that mitochondrial mRNA abundance is heavily modulated by post-transcriptional regulation.ConclusionsThis work provides novel insights into the mitogenome evolution of B. tabaci species and demonstrates that utilizing RNA-seq data to obtain the mitogenome and analyze mitochondrial gene expression characteristics is practical.

Project description:BackgroundWhiteflies are agricultural pests that cause negative impacts globally to crop yields resulting at times in severe economic losses and food insecurity. The Bemisia tabaci whitefly species complex is the most damaging in terms of its broad crop host range and its ability to serve as vector for over 400 plant viruses. Genomes of whiteflies belonging to this species complex have provided valuable genomic data; however, transposable elements (TEs) within these genomes remain unexplored. This study provides the first accurate characterization of TE content within the B. tabaci species complex.ResultsThis study identified that an average of 40.61% of the genomes of three whitefly species (MEAM1, MEDQ, and SSA-ECA) consists of TEs. The majority of the TEs identified were DNA transposons (22.85% average) while SINEs (0.14% average) were the least represented. This study also compared the TE content of the three whitefly genomes with three other hemipteran genomes and found significantly more DNA transposons and less LINEs in the whitefly genomes. A total of 63 TE superfamilies were identified to be present across the three whitefly species (39 DNA transposons, six LTR, 16 LINE, and two SINE). The sequences of the identified TEs were clustered which generated 5766 TE clusters. A total of 2707 clusters were identified as uniquely found within the whitefly genomes while none of the generated clusters were from both whitefly and non-whitefly TE sequences. This study is the first to characterize TEs found within different B. tabaci species and has created a standardized annotation workflow that could be used to analyze future whitefly genomes.ConclusionThis study is the first to characterize the landscape of TEs within the B. tabaci whitefly species complex. The characterization of these elements within the three whitefly genomes shows that TEs occupy significant portions of B. tabaci genomes, with DNA transposons representing the vast majority. This study also identified TE superfamilies and clusters of TE sequences of potential interest, providing essential information, and a framework for future TE studies within this species complex.

Dataset Information

The immune strategy and stress response of the Mediterranean species of the Bemisia tabaci complex to an orally delivered bacterial pathogen.

Background

Methodology/principal findings

Conclusions/significance

Publications

The immune strategy and stress response of the Mediterranean species of the Bemisia tabaci complex to an orally delivered bacterial pathogen.

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