Functional Genomics in the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci Species Complex

Abstract

Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) include some important pests of agricultural and horticultural crops in temperate and tropical regions. The two most damaging and widespread species are the tobacco or cotton whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) and the greenhouse whitefly (Trialeurodes vaporariorum). Bemisia tabaci is now recognized as a species complex of at least 35 cryptic species. During the past 20 years, two species of the complex, Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (hereafter MEAM1) and Mediterranean (hereafter MED), which have been commonly referred to as the B and Q ‘biotype’, have risen to international prominence due to their global invasion. Despite their global prevalence, genomic sequence resources available for the whiteflies were scarce until recent years. Hence deciphering the functional genomics of whiteflies has become crucial to advance studies on their biology. The recent advancement in genomic technologies offers great opportunities for a better understanding of the complex mechanisms underlying whitefly problems. With the development of high performance sequencing technology, transcript profiling techniques allow the simultaneous examination of thousands of genes, and can be utilized to study changes in gene expression. In this review, we will summarize the recent developments in whitefly transcriptomes and gene expression profiling during virus transmission, whitefly-plant interactions and stress responses. These research efforts have provided valuable datasets for future investigations on the molecular mechanisms of whitefly biology and are expected to open important avenues into the discovery of novel strategies for whitefly management.