Collaborative Research: Vector-Enabled Discovery: Exploiting whiteflies to investigate the diversity, evolution, and biogeography of begomoviruses.

单链DNA，白蛉传播的begomovirus是世界上最严重的新兴作物病原体之一。为了提高对贝古莫病毒多样性、进化和生物地理学的认识，本项目采用了一种新的方法直接从烟粉虱媒介中鉴定贝古莫病毒。这种方法利用了白蝇从它们赖以为生的许多植物中浓缩病毒的天然能力，并利用宏基因组工具发现新病毒的能力。白蝇样本将从六大洲八个国家的番茄和南瓜田采集。宏基因组测序将产生许多完整的贝古病毒基因组序列，这将用于提高我们对贝古病毒系统发育和进化的认识。对begomavirus核心外壳蛋白区域进行深度测序，可以直接比较不同作物和地理位置的begomavirus多样性。这项基于媒介的全球调查将大大增加我们对begomavirus多样性、重组、生物地理学和出现的认识。由于begomovirus是一种危险的植物病原体，对全球粮食生物安全构成重大威胁，因此该项目对农业具有重大意义。通过该项目，将培养一名研究生和一名博士后，研究前沿分子生物学和生物信息学技术。此外，还将开发一个女童子军“病毒猎人”补丁程序，让年轻女性参与检测和控制新出现的病毒的研究。

The single-stranded DNA, whitefly-transmitted begomoviruses are among the most serious emerging crop pathogens worldwide. To enhance current knowledge of begomovirus diversity, evolution, and biogeography, this project utilizes a novel approach of identifying begomoviruses directly from the Bemisia tabaci whitefly vector. This approach exploits the natural ability of whiteflies to concentrate viruses from the many plants they feed upon, and leverages the capability of metagenomic tools for discovering new viruses. Whitefly samples will be collected from tomato and squash fields from eight countries on six continents. Metagenomic sequencing will yield numerous complete begomovirus genome sequences, which will be used to improve our knowledge of begomovirus phylogeny and evolution. Deep sequencing of the begomovirus core coat protein region will enable direct comparisons of begomovirus diversity between crops and geographic locations. This global vector-based survey will substantially increase our understanding of begomovirus diversity, recombination, biogeography, and emergence. Since begomoviruses are dangerous plant pathogens that pose a significant threat to global food biosecurity, this project has significant implications for agriculture. A graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher will be trained in cutting-edge molecular biology and bioinformatics techniques through this project. In addition, a Girl Scout "Virus Hunter" patch program will be developed to introduce young women to research in the detection and control of emerging viruses.