title: The draft genome of whitefly Bemisia tabaci MEAM1, a global crop pest, provides novel insights into virus transmission, host adaptation, and insecticide resistance.
abstract: The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is among the 100 worst invasive species in the world. As one of the most important crop pests and virus vectors, B. tabaci causes substantial crop losses and poses a serious threat to global food security.
  
  
  
  We report the 615-Mb high-quality genome sequence of B. tabaci Middle East-Asia Minor 1 (MEAM1), the first genome sequence in the Aleyrodidae family, which contains 15,664 protein-coding genes. The B. tabaci genome is highly divergent from other sequenced hemipteran genomes, sharing no detectable synteny. A number of known detoxification gene families, including cytochrome P450s and UDP-glucuronosyltransferases, are significantly expanded in B. tabaci. Other expanded gene families, including cathepsins, large clusters of tandemly duplicated B. tabaci-specific genes, and phosphatidylethanolamine-binding proteins (PEBPs), were found to be associated with virus acquisition and transmission and/or insecticide resistance, likely contributing to the global invasiveness and efficient virus transmission capacity of B. tabaci. The presence of 142 horizontally transferred genes from bacteria or fungi in the B. tabaci genome, including genes encoding hopanoid/sterol synthesis and xenobiotic detoxification enzymes that are not present in other insects, offers novel insights into the unique biological adaptations of this insect such as polyphagy and insecticide resistance. Interestingly, two adjacent bacterial pantothenate biosynthesis genes, panB and panC, have been co-transferred into B. tabaci and fused into a single gene that has acquired introns during its evolution.
  
  
  
  The B. tabaci genome contains numerous genetic novelties, including expansions in gene families associated with insecticide resistance, detoxification and virus transmission, as well as numerous horizontally transferred genes from bacteria and fungi. We believe these novelties likely have shaped B. tabaci as a highly invasive polyphagous crop pest and efficient vector of plant viruses. The genome serves as a reference for resolving the B. tabaci cryptic species complex, understanding fundamental biological novelties, and providing valuable genetic information to assist the development of novel strategies for controlling whiteflies and the viruses they transmit.
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.|US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, US Vegetable Laboratory, Charleston, SC, 29414, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel K
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Hasegawa
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Crop Improvement and Protection Research, Salinas, CA, 93905, USA.
authors.forename: Navneet
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaur
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Adi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kliot
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.|EMBRAPA Rice and Beans, Santo Antônio de Goiás, GO, 75375-000, Brazil.|Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Patricia Valle
authors.initials: PV
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Junbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Luan
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SE-223 62, Sweden.
authors.forename: Marcus C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Stensmyr
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zheng
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Wenli
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Honghe
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Yimin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Luo
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.|Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Angela
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kruse
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Xiaowei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Svetlana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kontsedalov
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Galina
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lebedev
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Sciences, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
authors.forename: Tonja W
authors.initials: TW
authors.lastname: Fisher
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Biochemistry, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, 38163, USA.
authors.forename: David R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Nelson
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, US Horticultural Laboratory, Fort Pierce, FL, 34945, USA.
authors.forename: Wayne B
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.affiliation: Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Judith K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Jander
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.|Department of Biology, Lund University, Lund, SE-223 62, Sweden.|US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Michelle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cilia
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Angela E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Douglas
authors.affiliation: Department of Entomology, The Volcani Center, Bet Dagan, 50250, Israel.
authors.forename: Murad
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ghanim
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, US Vegetable Laboratory, Charleston, SC, 29414, USA.
authors.forename: Alvin M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Simmons
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Crop Improvement and Protection Research, Salinas, CA, 93905, USA. bill.wintermantel@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Wintermantel
authors.affiliation: US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, US Vegetable Laboratory, Charleston, SC, 29414, USA. kai.ling@ars.usda.gov.
authors.forename: Kai-Shu
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Ling
authors.affiliation: Boyce Thompson Institute, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. zf25@cornell.edu.|US Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA. zf25@cornell.edu.
authors.forename: Zhangjun
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-9684-1450
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fei
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D049750:Genome, Insect / Q000235:genetics*; D006430:Hemiptera / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D007305:Insecticide Resistance / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D010942:Plant Viruses / Q000472:pathogenicity
chemical_list: D019476:Insect Proteins
keywords: Bemisia tabaci; Draft genome; Insecticide resistance; Polyphagy; Virus transmission; Whitefly