Viruses (Feb 2024)

D-Limonene Affects the Feeding Behavior and the Acquisition and Transmission of Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Virus by <i>Bemisia tabaci</i>

  • Yan Wei,
  • Liming Gao,
  • Zhanhong Zhang,
  • Kailong Li,
  • Zhuo Zhang,
  • Deyong Zhang,
  • Jianbin Chen,
  • Jing Peng,
  • Yang Gao,
  • Jiao Du,
  • Shuo Yan,
  • Xiaobin Shi,
  • Yong Liu

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/v16020300
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 16, no. 2
p. 300

Abstract

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Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is an important invasive pest transmitting plant viruses that are maintained through a plant–insect–plant cycle. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) can be transmitted in a persistent manner by B. tabaci, which causes great losses to global agricultural production. From an environmentally friendly, sustainable, and efficient point of view, in this study, we explored the function of d-limonene in reducing the acquisition and transmission of TYLCV by B. tabaci as a repellent volatile. D-limonene increased the duration of non-feeding waves and reduced the duration of phloem feeding in non-viruliferous and viruliferous whiteflies by the Electrical Penetration Graph technique (EPG). Additionally, after treatment with d-limonene, the acquisition and transmission rate of TYLCV was reduced. Furthermore, BtabOBP3 was determined as the molecular target for recognizing d-limonene by real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), fluorescence competitive binding assays, and molecular docking. These results confirmed that d-limonene is an important functional volatile which showed a potential contribution against viral infections with potential implications for developing effective TYLCV control strategies.

Keywords