AUTHOR=Guo Litao , Su Qi , Yin Jin , Yang Zezhong , Xie Wen , Wang Shaoli , Wu Qingjun , Cui Hongying , Zhang Youjun 

TITLE=Amino Acid Utilization May Explain Why Bemisia tabaci Q and B Differ in Their Performance on Plants Infected by the Tomato yellow leaf curl virus

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Physiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2019

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physiology/articles/10.3389/fphys.2019.00489

DOI=10.3389/fphys.2019.00489

ISSN=1664-042X

ABSTRACT=<p>To make plants more attractive to vectors of viruses, plant-infecting viruses can alter host plant physiology. The recent outbreaks of <italic>Tomato yellow leaf curl virus</italic> (TYLCV) relate to the spread of its primary vector, the whitefly <italic>Bemisia tabaci</italic>. Here, we investigated the question of whether the better performance of <italic>B. tabaci</italic> Q, relative to that of the B biotype, on TYLCV-infected tomato plants could be explained by differences in the ability of the <italic>B. tabaci</italic> Q and B to obtain free amino acids from the virus-infected plants. We found that the TYLCV infection of tomato plants significantly affected the mole percentage (mol%) of free amino acids in the phloem sap of the tomato plants and the mol% of free amino acids in <italic>B. tabaci</italic> adults and <italic>B. tabaci</italic> honeydew. The TYLCV infection caused the mol% of a larger number of free amino acids to rise in <italic>B. tabaci</italic> Q than in B, and the analysis of honeydew indicated that, when feeding on TYLCV-infected plants, <italic>B. tabaci</italic> Q was better able to use the free amino acids than <italic>B. tabaci</italic> B. The results suggest that <italic>B. tabaci</italic> Q is better adapted than B to feed on TYLCV-infected plants, and that TYLCV alters the <italic>B. tabaci</italic> B–Q competitive interaction in favor of Q.</p>