Sequencing and comparison of the Rickettsia genomes from the whitefly Bemisia tabaci Middle East Asia Minor I  

作　　者：Dan-Tong Zhu Wen-Qiang Xia Qiong Rao Shu-Sheng Liu Murad Ghanim Xiao-Wei Wang 

机构地区：[1]Ministry of Agriculture Key Laboratory of Agricultural Entomology, Institute of Insect Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China [2]Department of Entomology, Agricultural Research Organization, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, Israel [3]School of Agriculture and Food Science, Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University, Lin'an, Hangzhou, China

出　　处：《Insect Science》2016年第4期531-542,共12页昆虫科学（英文版）

基　　金：Financial support for this study was provided by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Project number： 31390421 and 31321063）.

摘　　要：The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, harbors the primary symbiont ＇Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum＇ and a variety of secondary symbionts. Among these secondary symbionts, Rickettsia is the only one that can be detected both inside and outside the bacteriomes. Infection with Rickettsia has been reported to influence several aspects of the whitefly biology, such as fitness, sex ratio, virus transmission and resistance to pesticides. However, mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear, largely due to the lack of genomic information of Rickettsia. In this study, we sequenced the genome of two Rickettsia strains isolated from the Middle East Asia Minor 1 （MEAM1） species of the B. tabaci complex in China and Israel. Both Rickettsia genomes were of high coding den- sity and AT-rich, containing more than 1000 coding sequences, much larger than that of the coexisted primary symbiont, Portiera. Moreover, the two Rickettsia strains isolated from China and Israel shared most of the genes with 100% identity and only nine genes showed sequence differences. The phylogenetic analysis using orthologs shared in the genus, inferred the proximity of Rickettsia in MEAM1 and Rickettsia bellii. Functional analysis revealed that Rickettsia was unable to synthesize amino acids required for complementing the whitefly nutrition. Besides, a type IV secretion system and a number of virulence- related genes were detected in the Rickettsia genome. The presence of virulence-related genes might benefit the symbiotic life of the bacteria, and hint on potential effects of Rickettsia on whiteflies. The genome sequences of Rickettsia provided a basis for further understanding the function of Rickettsia in whiteflies.The whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, harbors the primary symbiont ＇Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum＇ and a variety of secondary symbionts. Among these secondary symbionts, Rickettsia is the only one that can be detected both inside and outside the bacteriomes. Infection with Rickettsia has been reported to influence several aspects of the whitefly biology, such as fitness, sex ratio, virus transmission and resistance to pesticides. However, mechanisms underlying these differences remain unclear, largely due to the lack of genomic information of Rickettsia. In this study, we sequenced the genome of two Rickettsia strains isolated from the Middle East Asia Minor 1 （MEAM1） species of the B. tabaci complex in China and Israel. Both Rickettsia genomes were of high coding den- sity and AT-rich, containing more than 1000 coding sequences, much larger than that of the coexisted primary symbiont, Portiera. Moreover, the two Rickettsia strains isolated from China and Israel shared most of the genes with 100% identity and only nine genes showed sequence differences. The phylogenetic analysis using orthologs shared in the genus, inferred the proximity of Rickettsia in MEAM1 and Rickettsia bellii. Functional analysis revealed that Rickettsia was unable to synthesize amino acids required for complementing the whitefly nutrition. Besides, a type IV secretion system and a number of virulence- related genes were detected in the Rickettsia genome. The presence of virulence-related genes might benefit the symbiotic life of the bacteria, and hint on potential effects of Rickettsia on whiteflies. The genome sequences of Rickettsia provided a basis for further understanding the function of Rickettsia in whiteflies.

关 键 词：Bemisia tabaci COMPARISON ENDOSYMBIONT genome RICKETTSIA SYMBIOSIS 

分 类 号：S944.43[农业科学—水产养殖] TP301[农业科学—水产科学]