Small RNAs from Bemisia tabaci Are Transferred to Solanum lycopersicum Phloem during Feeding.

ABSTRACT: The phloem-feeding whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest to a broad range of host plants, including many economically important crops such as tomato. These insects serve as a vector for various devastating plant viruses. It is known that whiteflies are capable of manipulating host-defense responses, potentially mediated by effector molecules in the whitefly saliva. We hypothesized that, beside putative effector proteins, small RNAs (sRNA) are delivered by B. tabaci into the phloem, where they may play a role in manipulating host plant defenses. There is already evidence to suggest that sRNAs can mediate the host-pathogen dialogue. It has been shown that Botrytis cinerea, the causal agent of gray mold disease, takes advantage of the plant sRNA machinery to selective

SUBMITTER: van Kleeff PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5121246 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature