Species within the Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) Complex in Soybean and Bean Crops in Argentina

The White fly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a cryptic species complex that contains some of the most damaging pests in tropical and subtropical regions. Recent studies suggested that this complex is composed of at least 24 distinct species. We use the approach from these studies to consider the identity of B. tabaci in Argentina. Previous studies have suggested the presence of a B. tabaci presumably indigenous to the Americas and referred to as the BR biotype in Argentina. We placed the entity referred to as the BR biotype within the B. tabaci cryptic species complex using whiteflies collected in soybean and bean crops in northern and central Argentina. The whiteflies were assigned using the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase (mtCOI) gene. Four unknown haplotypes plus two Argentina sequences from GenBank formed a cluster that was basal to the rest of theNewWorld sequences. These sequences diverged from the consensus sequence across the range of 3.6 to 4.3%. Applying the species assignment rules of recent studies suggests that the individuals from Argentina form a separate species. A unknown haplotype fell within the New World putative species and formed a distinct cluster with haplotypes from Panama. These results suggest that Argentina has two indigenous species belonging to the B. tabaci cryptic species complex. Rather tan using mtCOI sequencing for all B. tabaci collected, a simple random amplifed polymorphic DNApolymerase chain reaction diagnostic was used and tested along with previously published primers designed to work specially with the BR biotype from Brazil. These primers were either unable to distinguish between the two indigenous members of the complex in Argentina or indicated a difference when none was evident on the basis of mtCOI sequence comparison.Fil: Alemandri, V.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: De Barro, P.. No especifíca;Fil: Bejerman, N.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Argüello Caro, Evangelina Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Dumón, A. D.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Mattio, Maria Fernanda. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez, S. M.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Truol G.. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria. Centro de Investigación en Ciencias Veterinarias y Agronómicas. Instituto de Fitopatología y Fisiología Vegetal; Argentin

Mal de Río Cuarto Virus infection triggers the production of distinctive viral-derived siRNA profiles in wheat and Its planthopper vector

Plant reoviruses are able to multiply in gramineae plants and delphacid vectors encountering different defense strategies with unique features. This study aims to comparatively assess alterations of small RNA (sRNA) populations in both hosts upon virus infection. For this purpose, we characterized the sRNA profiles of wheat and planthopper vectors infected by Mal de Río Cuarto virus (MRCV, Fijivirus, Reoviridae) and quantified virus genome segments by quantitative reverse transcription PCR We provide evidence that plant and insect silencing machineries differentially recognize the viral genome, thus giving rise to distinct profiles of virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs). In plants, most of the virus genome segments were targeted preferentially within their upstream sequences and vsiRNAs mapped with higher density to the smaller genome segments than to the medium or larger ones. This tendency, however, was not observed in insects. In both hosts, vsiRNAs were equally derived from sense and antisense RNA strands and the differences in vsiRNAs accumulation did not correlate with mRNAs accumulation. We also established that the piwi-interacting RNA (piRNA) pathway was active in the delphacid vector but, contrary to what is observed in virus infected mosquitoes, virus-specific piRNAs were not detected. This work contributes to the understanding of the silencing response in insect and plant hosts.Inst. de BiotecnologíaFil: De Haro, Luis Alejandro. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Dumon, Analia Delina. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Mattio, Maria Fernanda. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Arguello Caro, Evangelina Beatriz. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Llauger, Gabriela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Zavallo, Diego. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Blanc, Hervé. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut Pasteur, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit; FranciaFil: Truol, Graciela Ana Maria. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Patología Vegetal; ArgentinaFil: Mongelli, Vanesa Claudia. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut Pasteur, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit; FranciaFil: Saleh, María-Carla. Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. Institut Pasteur, Viruses and RNA Interference Unit; FranciaFil: Asurmendi, Sebastian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Del Vas, Mariana. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin