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

目前对植物病毒多样性的认识严重偏向于可见的和经济上重要的疾病的病原体，我们对尚未在作物中流行的病毒知之甚少。粉虱传播的菜豆花叶病毒是世界范围内最严重的作物病原之一。为了提高目前对菜豆花叶病毒多样性、进化和病毒学的认识，本项目利用一种新的方法直接从粉虱载体中鉴定菜豆花叶病毒。这种方法利用了粉虱从它们所食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。粉虱样本将从六大洲八个国家的番茄和南瓜田收集。宏基因组测序将产生大量完整的菜豆花叶病毒基因组序列，这将有助于我们进一步了解菜豆花叶病毒的发生和进化。对菜豆花叶病毒核心外壳蛋白区域的深度测序将能够直接比较作物和地理位置之间的菜豆花叶病毒多样性。 这一全球性的基于载体的调查将大大增加我们对菜豆花叶病毒多样性、重组、病毒学和出现的理解。由于菜豆花叶病毒是对全球粮食生物安全构成重大威胁的危险植物病原体，该项目对农业具有重大意义。一名研究生和一名博士后研究员将通过该项目接受尖端分子生物学和生物信息学技术的培训。 此外，还将制定一个女童子军“病毒猎人”补丁方案，向年轻妇女介绍检测和控制新出现病毒的研究。

Current knowledge of plant virus diversity is heavily biased towards agents of visible and economically important diseases, and we know little of viruses that have not yet appeared in epidemic proportions in crop plants. The 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 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.