Skip to main content
Entomology 2023 Main banner
Bayer
Icon Legend
This session is not in your schedule.
This session is in your schedule. Click again to remove it.
Presentation Icons
In-Person
In-Person
On-Demand
On-Demand
Student Competition
Student Competition
Poster
Poster
Ticketed Event
Ticketed Event
Back
ViewAttendees 1

10-Minute Paper

Plant-Insect Ecosystems

P-IE: Microbial Control and Microbial Interactions

The influence of Diaphorina citri flavi-like virus on Huanglongbing bacteria vectoring and psyllid biology

Sunday, November 5, 2023
11:00 AM – 11:12 AM ET
Location: Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor 13
In-Person

    Presenting Author(s)

  • Chun-Yi Lin

    Postdoctoral Researcher
    University of Florida
    Haines City, Florida

    • Co-Author(s)

  • MR

    Mahnaz Rashidi

    Postdoc
    University of Florida
    Lake Alfred, Florida

  • OB

    Ozgur Batuman

    University of Florida
    Immokalee, Florida

  • AL

    Amit Levy

    University of Florida
    Lake Alfred, Florida

Diaphorina citri, the insect vector of citrus Huanglongbing (HLB) disease, transmit Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus (CLas) between plants. Insect viruses provides an effective target-specific method to decrease the CLas transmission. The influence of insect viruses on psyllid biology and the interaction between these viruses and CLas remain unclear. Here, D. citri flavi-like virus (DcFLV), one of four associated viruses in the gut virome, was identified by high throughput sequencing and selected for further study. We show that DcFLV systemically infects D. citri and is vertically transmitted to the offspring. On the cellular level, dark necrotic portions were observed in DcFLV-exposed midguts that are similar to the CLas-exposed midguts of psyllids. We also measured significant differences on the expression level of endoplasmic reticulum stress- and defense-related genes in DcFLV-infected psyllids compared to DcFLV-free psyllids. CLas and DcFLV co-occurred in field-collected psyllid populations and co-localized in the guts and salivary gland cells of D. citri. Moreover, DcFLV infection increased CLas acquisition in nymphs. Our study identified a D. citri-associated virus that localized and showed pathogenicity on D. citri guts. The virus modulates D. citri cellular functions and affects the efficiency of CLas transmission.