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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #361503
Research Project: Urban Landscape Integrated Pest Management

Location: Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Laboratory

Title: An iflavirus found in stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) of four different species

Author
item DOS SANTOS, ETHIANE - Federal University - Brazil
item ECKER, ASSIS - Federal University - Brazil
item TRENTIN, LUANA - Federal University - Brazil
item DA SILVA, LEONARDO - University Of Brasilia
item BORGES, MIGUEL - Embrapa Genetic Resources
item RIBEIRO, BERGMANN - University Of Brasilia
item Mowery, Joseph
item Harrison, Robert - Bob
item ARDISSON-ARAUJO, DANIEL - Federal University - Brazil

Submitted to: Virology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/5/2019
Publication Date: 8/1/2019
Citation: Dos Santos, E.R., Ecker, A., Trentin, L.B., Da Silva, L.A., Borges, M., Ribeiro, B.M., Mowery, J.D., Harrison, R.L., Ardisson-Araujo, D.M. 2019. An iflavirus found in stink bugs (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) of four different species. Virology. 534:72-79.

Interpretive Summary: The brown marmorated stink bug is an invasive pest of fruits and vegetables in the USA. Chemical insecticides used to kill this pest come with negative consequences, and are not an option for organic agriculture. Naturally occurring disease-causing insect microbes, including viruses, have been used in the past to kill insect pests without the problems of chemical insecticides. In this study, the molecular sequence of a virus present in the brown marmorated stink bug and three other stink bugs from South America was determined. The features of the virus sequence and the virus particles found in these stink bugs were characterized and described. This information will be of interest to those in academia, government, and industry who are trying to develop environmentally-friendly forms of insect control.

Technical Abstract: An analysis of transcriptomes from the antennae of the three South American stink bugs (Euschistus heros,Chinavia ubica, andDichelops melacanthus) revealed the presence of picorna-like virus genome-length RNAs withhigh sequence identity to the genome of Halyomorpha halys virus (HhV), originally discovered in the tran-scriptome of the brown marmorated stink bug,Halyomorpha halys. Features of the genome, phylogenetic re-lationships to other viruses, and the appearances of virus-like particles isolated from host stink bugs all confirmthat these viruses are iflaviruses and isolates of an undescribed species. Iflavirus RNAs were present at high levels(40%–90% of transcriptome reads) in the stink bug antennal transcriptomes. In whole-insect transcriptomes ofH. halys, HhV reads were > 500-fold more abundant in adults than in nymphs. We identified fromfield popu-lation a subject of speciesE. herosinfected by this iflavirus. The results of the analysis suggest that these ifla-viruses are able to produce large quantities of their RNAs without causing any obvious pathology to their hosts.