Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fort Pierce, Florida » U.S. Horticultural Research Laboratory » Subtropical Insects and Horticulture Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #164858
Title: THE BEMISIA TABACI FUNCTIONAL GENOMICS PROJECT

Author
item CZOSNEK, H. - HEBREW UNIV OF JERUSALEM
item BROWN, J. - UNIV. OF ARIZONA
item McKenzie, Cindy
item Shatters, Robert - Bob

Submitted to: European Whitefly Symposium Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/11/2004
Publication Date: 9/12/2004
Citation: Czosnek, H., Brown, J.K., Mckenzie, C.L., Shatters, R.G. 2004. The bemisia tabaci functional genomics project. European Whitefly Symposium Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Despite its great economic importance, the molecular genetics of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci has been barely explored. The Whitefly Genome Project has been established to fill up this gap. This project proposes the development and public presentation of a B. tabaci expressed sequence tag (EST) library and associated cDNA high-density arrays. By employing functional genomics we expect to discover genes underlying specific biological processes which make Bemisia tabaci one of the major pests to agriculture. Several cDNA libraries have been constructed from B. tabaci biotype B to address the following specific goals: To study the insect life cycle: libraries from (i) eggs, (ii) instars (from crawler to pupae) and (iii) non-viruliferous adults (from an insect colony maintained in Israel). To examine whether begomoviruses influence the whitefly transcript profile: libraries from adults fed on tomato plants infected with (iv) the monopartite begomovirus Tomato yellow leaf curl virus, and with (v) the bipartite begomovirus Tomato mottle virus, and (vi) from non-viruliferous insects (colonies maintained in Florida). To study begomovirus circulative transmission and to isolate putative begomovirus receptors: (vii) library from the adult digestive tract and (viii) subtractive library from Trialeurodes vaporariorum vs. B. tabaci (colonies maintained in Israel). In addition a normalized cDNA library from adult insects is available (colony maintained in Arizona). At present, several thousands clones have been isolated, sequenced and annotated according to putative functions and metabolic pathways. This work will continue until the number of newly discovered sequences is exhausted. Results from these studies will be presented. In a second stage, the unique clones will be PCR-amplified and printed on glass slides and on membranes, providing master arrays for further studies. Through a series of hybridizations to the DNA arrays with labeled targets developed from whitefly RNAs, we expect to discover genes that are differentially expressed during insect development, virus acquisition and transmission, acquisition of resistance to insecticides and plant host detoxification.