Abstract：
Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a destructive insect pest of many crops. Rickettsia infection in different cryptic species of B. tabaci has been observed worldwide. Understanding the interactions between these 2 organisms is critical to developing Rickettsia-based strategies to control B. tabaci and thereby reduce the transmission of related vector-borne viruses. In this study, we investigated the effects of Rickettsia infection on the biological characteristics of the Middle East Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1) strain of B. tabaci through biological analysis of infected and uninfected individuals. The results of this study suggest that Rickettsia may confer fitness benefits. These benefits include increased fertility, improved survival rates, accelerated development, and resulted in female bias. We also investigated the transcriptomics impact of Rickettsia infection on B. tabaci by performing a comparative RNA-seq analysis of nymphs and adult females, both with and without the infection. Our analysis revealed 218 significant differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in infected nymphs compared to uninfected ones and 748 significant DEGs in infected female adults compared to their uninfected whiteflies. Pathway analysis further revealed that Rickettsia can affect many important metabolic pathways in whiteflies. The results suggest that Rickettsia plays an essential role in energy metabolism, and nutrient synthesis in the B. tabaci MEAM1, and depends on metabolites obtained from the host to ensure its survival. Overall, our findings suggest that Rickettsia has beneficial effects on B. tabaci and offered insights into the potential molecular mechanisms governing the interactions between Rickettsia and B. tabaci MEAM1.
摘要：
白粉虱烟粉虱（半翅目：Aleyrodidae）是许多作物的破坏性害虫。已在全球范围内观察到烟粉虱不同隐伏种的立克次体感染。了解这两种生物之间的相互作用对于开发基于立克次体的策略来控制烟粉虱，从而减少相关载体传播病毒的传播至关重要。在这项研究中,我们通过对感染和未感染个体的生物学分析，研究了立克次体感染对烟粉芽孢杆菌的中东小亚细亚1（MEAM1）菌株生物学特性的影响。这项研究的结果表明，立克次体可能会带来健身益处。这些好处包括增加生育率，提高生存率，加快发展,并导致女性偏见。我们还通过对若虫和成年雌性进行比较RNA-seq分析，研究了立克次体感染对烟粉虱的转录组学影响。有和没有感染。我们的分析显示，与未感染的若虫相比，受感染的若虫中有218个显着的差异表达基因（DEGs），与未感染的粉虱相比，受感染的成年女性中有748个显着的DEGs。路径分析进一步揭示立克次体可以影响粉虱中许多重要的代谢途径。结果表明立克次体在能量代谢中起着至关重要的作用，以及烟粉虱MEAM1中的营养合成，并取决于从宿主获得的代谢物以确保其存活。总的来说,我们的研究结果表明立克次体对烟粉虱具有有益作用,并提供了对控制立克次体与烟粉虱之间相互作用的潜在分子机制的见解。
