Combined infection with Tomato yellow leaf curl virus and Rickettsia influences fecundity, attraction to infected plants and expression of immunity-related genes in the whitefly Bemisia tabaci

Adi Kliot, Svetlana Kontsedalov, Galina Lebedev, Henryk Czosnek, Murad Ghanim*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

We have recently shown that Rickettsia, a secondary facultative bacterial symbiont that infects the whitefly B. tabaci is implicated in the transmission of Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV). Infection with Rickettsia improved the acquisition and transmission of the virus by B. tabaci adults. Here we performed a transcriptomic analysis with Rickettsia-infected and uninfected B. tabaci adults before and after TYLCV acquisition. The results show a dramatic and specific activation of the immune system in the presence of Rickettsia before TYLCV acquisition. However, when TYLCV was acquired, it induced massive activation of gene expression in the Rickettsia uninfected population, whereas in the Rickettsia-infected population the virus induced massive down-regulation of gene expression. Fitness and choice experiments revealed that while Rickettsia-infected whiteflies are always more attracted to TYLCV-infected plants, this attraction is not always beneficiary for their offspring. These studies further confirm the role of Rickettsia in many aspects of B. tabaci interactions with TYLCV, and possibly serves as an important factor in the dissemination of the virus.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)721-731
Number of pages11
JournalJournal of General Virology
Volume100
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 The Authors.

Keywords

  • Bemisia tabaci
  • Fitness
  • Rickettsia
  • Symbiont
  • TYLCV
  • Virus transmission

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