内共生菌Wolbachia对蓟马传毒能力影响及其机制

Wolbachia is a group of important second symbiosis bacteria found in many insects. They induce antimicrobial peptides and immune regulation pathway in insects, which result into reduce vector competence of virus transmission.The western flower thrips (WFT), Frankliniella occidentalis is known as an invasive pest around world, its relative species F. intonsa is native and common in China. Both of them are vector of tomato spotted wilt virus(TSWV), a quarantine plant pathogen。Our previous studies showed that the competence of transmitting TSWV by WFT was higher than that of F. intonsa. Moreover, there was a high infection rate of Wolbachia in F. intonsa population, but Wolbachia was absent in natural WFT population, which prompted us to speculate that Wolbachia play a key role in thrips transmitting virus. Based on above mentioned, this project carry out a series of experiments, including Wolbachia infection of thrips how do effects on acquisition and transmission of TSWV by thrips, and on TSWV replication and dispersion in thrips tissues, and on immune system of thrips. The object is to understand the effects and its mechanism of Wolbachia contributing to thrips transmitting viruses, and it help to understand economic importance of different thrips species and is good for taking reasonable strategies of virus control.

Wolbachia是分布于许多昆虫体内的重要次生共生菌，诱导昆虫抗菌肽和免疫调控通路等，对宿主媒介昆虫传毒能力产生影响。西花蓟马是我国危险性入侵害虫之一，其近缘种花蓟马在我国本土广泛发生，二者都能传播检疫性植物病害番茄斑萎病毒。本课题组研究表明西花蓟马传播番茄斑萎病毒能力明显强于花蓟马；花蓟马种群中普遍存在极高Wolbachia感染率，而西花蓟马种群中不存在Wolbachia感染，因此我们推测Wolbachia可能在蓟马传毒过程中发挥重要作用。该项目在此基础上，开展系列研究，主要包括Wolbachia感染对蓟马获取和传播番茄斑萎病毒能力的影响、Wolbachia感染对番茄斑萎病毒于蓟马体内组织扩散和复制能力的影响、Wolbachia感染对蓟马免疫的影响。旨在揭示Wolbachia在蓟马传毒过程中的作用及其机制，对于理解不同蓟马的经济地位和控制其传播的植物病毒具有重要科学意义和潜在应用价值。