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Whitefly hijacks a plant detoxification gene that neutralizes plant toxins
Auteur(s)
Xia, Jixing
Guo, Zhaojiang
Yang, Zezhong
Han, Haolin
Wang, Shaoli
Xu, Haifeng
Yang, Xin
Yang, Fengshan
Wu, Qingjun
Xie, Wen
Zhou, Xuguo
Dermauw, Wannes
Zhang, Youjun
Date de parution
2021-4-1
In
Cell
No
184
De la page
1693
A la page
1705
Revu par les pairs
1
Résumé
Plants protect themselves with a vast array of toxic secondary metabolites, yet most plants serve as food for insects. The evolutionary processes that allow herbivorous insects to resist plant defenses remain largely un- known. The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a cosmopolitan, highly polyphagous agricultural pest that vectors several serious plant pathogenic viruses and is an excellent model to probe the molecular mechanisms involved in overcoming plant defenses. Here, we show that, through an exceptional horizontal gene transfer event, the whitefly has acquired the plant-derived phenolic glucoside malonyltransferase gene BtPMaT1. This gene enables whiteflies to neutralize phenolic glucosides. This was confirmed by genetically transform- ing tomato plants to produce small interfering RNAs that silence BtPMaT1, thus impairing the whiteflies’ detoxification ability. These findings reveal an evolutionary scenario whereby herbivores harness the genetic toolkit of their host plants to develop resistance to plant defenses and how this can be exploited for crop protection.
Identifiants
Type de publication
journal article
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