Identification of salivary proteins in the whiteflyBemisia tabaciby transcriptomic and LC-MS/MS analyses

The whiteflyBemisia tabaciis a notorious agricultural pest of many crops worldwide. Although it is thought thatB. tabacisecretes saliva into the host plant to counter plant defenses, knowledge on the whitefly salivary proteome is limited. Here, we characterized the gene/protein repertoires ofB. tabacisalivary glands and secreted saliva by transcriptomic and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectroscopy analyses. A total of 698 salivary gland-enriched unigenes and 171 salivary proteins were identified. Comparative analysis between theB. tabacisalivary proteins and those of different arthropod species revealed numerous similarities in proteins associated with binding, hydrolysis, and oxidation-reduction, which demonstrates a degree of conservation across herbivorous saliva. There were 74 proteins only identified inB. tabacisaliva, of which 34 wereB. tabaci-specific. In addition, 13 salivary proteins, of which 11 wereB. tabaci-specific, were differentially regulated whenB. tabacifed on different hosts. Our results provide a good resource for future functional studies of whitefly salivary effectors, and might be useful in pest management.

Automated summary

The study characterized the gene/protein repertoires of whiteflyBemisia tabaci salivary glands and secreted saliva, finding similarities with other arthropods but also unique proteins specific to B. tabaci. Differential regulation of salivary proteins on different hosts indicates potential applications in future functional studies and pest management.