Whitefly Genome Expression Reveals Host-Symbiont Interaction in Amino Acid Biosynthesis

BACKGROUND Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) complex is a serious insect pest of several crop plants worldwide. It comprises several morphologically indistinguishable species, however very little is known about their genetic divergence and biosynthetic pathways. In the present study, we performed transcriptome sequencing of Asia 1 species of B. tabaci complex and analyzed the interaction of host-symbiont genes in amino acid biosynthetic pathways. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS We obtained about 83 million reads using Illumina sequencing that assembled into 72716 unitigs. A total of 21129 unitigs were annotated at stringent parameters. Annotated unitigs were mapped to 52847 gene ontology (GO) terms and 131 Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways. Expression analysis of the genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis pathways revealed the complementation between whitefly and its symbiont partner Candidatus Portiera aleyrodidarum. Most of the non-essential amino acids and intermediates of essential amino acid pathways were supplied by the host insect to its symbiont. The symbiont expressed the pathways for the essential amino acids arginine, threonine and tryptophan and the immediate precursors of valine, leucine, isoleucine and phenyl-alanine. High level expression of the amino acid transporters in the whitefly suggested the molecular mechanisms for the exchange of amino acids between the host and the symbiont. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Our study provides a comprehensive transcriptome data for Asia 1 species of B. tabaci complex that focusses light on integration of host and symbiont genes in amino acid biosynthesis pathways.