Abstract
The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a major agricultural pest that causes economic damages worldwide. In particular, B. tabaci MED (Mediterranean) has resulted in serious economic losses in tomato production of Korea. In this study, 1,145 B. tabaci MED females from 35 tomato greenhouses in different geographic regions were collected from 2016 to 2018 (17 populations in 2016, 13 in 2017, and five in 2018) and analyzed to investigate their population genetic structures using eight microsatellite markers. The average number of alleles per population (NA) ranged from 2.000 to 5.875, the expected heterozygosity (HE) ranged from 0.218 to 0.600, the observed heterozygosity (HO) ranged from 0.061 to 0.580, and the fixation index inbreeding coefficient (FIS) ranged from -0.391 to 0.872 over the three years of the study. Some significant correlation (p < 0.05) was present between genetic differentiations (FST) and geographical distance, and a comparatively high proportion of variation was found among the B. tabaci MED populations. The B. tabaci MED populations were divided into two well-differentiated genetic clusters within different geographic regions. Interestingly, its genetic structures converged into one genetic cluster during just one year. The reasons for this genetic change were speculated to arise from different fitness, insecticide resistance, and insect movement by human activities.
Highlights
The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a major agricultural insect pest that is distributed worldwide
The Korean populations of tomato B. tabaci MED appeared to be classified into two genetic clusters based on STRUCTURE and Discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) analyses, and their genetic structure converged rapidly into one genetic cluster
The results of this study and those by Dinsdale et al [52], suggested that one out of the two B. tabaci MED genetic clusters in Korea might become the dominant species in the future
Summary
The sweet potato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a major agricultural insect pest that is distributed worldwide. B. tabaci has an extremely broad host range [1] and causes serious damage to diverse host plant species. B. tabaci is a vector for more than 100 pathogenic plant viruses [2], known to be a vector for begomoviruses [3], and a major vector for tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), one of the most devastating viruses in cultivated tomatoes in the world [4]. B. tabaci is a complex of 11 welldefined high-level groups consisting of at least 36 putative species identified based on mtCOI (mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I) [5, 6]. These putative species are morphologically indistinguishable and differ in host range, virus transmission, fecundity, and insecticide resistance.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
