The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest and virus vector of many crops. To understand thermal tolerance of B. tabaci at molecular level, effects of rapid and acclimated thermal stress were analyzed by measuring mRNA levels of two heat shock proteins (hsp), hsp23 and hsp90, of B. tabaci using quantitative real-time RT-PCR. Mortality of adult whiteflies were 65.5% by 45°C for 1 h but 100% by 50°C for 1 h. However, mortality by subsequent exposures to 35°C for 1 h then 45°C for 1 h was 43.3%. Comparison between rapid and acclimated heat shock treatments showed that different patterns between hsp23 and hsp90 levels. At acclimated condition, hsp90 was higher but hsp23 was lower than rapid heat shock. The results suggest that the heat acclimation response is possibly advantageous to whiteflies that are often exposed to drastic temperature fluctuations.

The sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is one of the most important sap sucking pests causing economic losses in a variety of vegetables in Bangladesh and as well as around the world. In the present study, the mtCOI sequence of B. tabaci was analysed using samples collected from different host plants (Potato, Brinjal, Tomato, Sweet potato, Bean) from district Gazipur, Patuakhali, Rajshahi and Nilphamari of Bangladesh. Phylogenetic analysis of our samples and relative sequences of B. tabaci in NCBI database was shown three independent clusters. Samples in Bangladesh were most similar with those of Thailand, Vietnam, Pakistan, China and India but did not show any B and Q aggressive biotypes.

Whiteflies (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) are major pests on greenhouse crops including sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) in South Korea. To manage this pest complex effectively, it is fundamental to understand population dynamics and spatial distributions of the pests. In this study, we conducted visual counting and used yellow sticky traps to monitor whitefly and thrips populations in sweet pepper greenhouse (6 × 28 m). The survey was conducted every two weeks over two months. A total of 84 traps were set up at 20cm from the plant top canopy and spaced 1m apart from each other. Leaves were selected randomly from the middle plant canopy for visual counting at the same sampling locations. The trap data indicate that the numbers of whiteflies and thrips increased from 5.50 ± 0.34 to 168.51 ± 14.95 and from 52.40 ± 1.67 to 158.42 ± 7.44 (mean ± SE) per trap, respectively, over the two-month observation period. In general, the spatial distributions of these pests aggregated near the greenhouse entrance with significant positive correlation between the densities of the two species (r = 0.74, P = 0.02). However, the results of visual counting were completely different; either species was rarely found on leaves, even when the trap catches were relatively high at the same locations. That is, there was no correlation between visual counting and sticky trap data sets. The current study will serve as a fundamental step to develop reliable and effective management programs for greenhouse sweet pepper.

Sweet pepper (Capsicum annuum L.) is one of the leading export greenhouse crops in South Korea. Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci Gennadius is one of the major pests on greenhouse pepper. This pest is conventionally managed by synthetic insecticide application, however this management tactic causes the overuse of toxic compounds and the resistance of whiteflies to insecticides. Therefore, the development of environment-friendly natural insecticides is vitally important. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of three newly-screened insecticidal compounds for B. tabaci (Biotype Q) in laboratory. The insecticidal effects of the compounds were assessed with adult B. tabaci using leaf disc arena established in petri dish. Among the three compounds tested, JS408, a plant extract from Perilla sp., showed significant insecticidal effects on B. tabaci in one hour causing 90% mortality. However, JA408 caused phytotoxicity on sweet pepper leaf resulting in browning dead spots. The new plant-extract JA408 has promising potential as natural insecticidal compound for B. tabaci, but further study must resolve the phytotoxicity issue. Moreover, insecticidal effect should be evaluated under field conditions.

담배가루이(Bemisia tabaci)는 외래해충으로 바이러스벡터로 작용하여, 토마토의 토마토황하잎말림병바이러스(TYLCV)를 비롯한 약 100여종의 바이러스를 매개하는 중요한 해충이다. 본 연구에서는 VIGS vector를 이용하여 담배가루이 방제를 위한 target 유전자들을 선발하기 위 해 gateway system을 이용한 담배가루이 cDNA library 제작을 시도하였다. 첫 번째 방법으로 oligo d(T) primer를 사용하였을 때, 평균 약 1 kb의 insert와 1.4×10 4 cfu의 titer를 확인하였다. 그러나 insert size가 너무 커서 적절하지 않았다. 두 번째 방법으로 attB-N25 random primer를 이 용하고, sonication을 6초 실시하여 다시 진행하였다. 그러나 확인되는 insert size는 다소 컸고, 몇몇은 insert가 너무 작아서 밴드가 확인 되지 않았으며, 1.04×10 5 cfu의 titer를 확인할 수 있었다. 세 번째 방법으로는 oligo d(T) primer를 이용하였고, sonication을 2초 실시하였다. 그 결 과 300 bp~600 bp size의 insert가 확인되었으나, electro transformation을 사용한 첫번째, 두번째 방법에 비해 heat shock transformation을 사용하여 titer가 5.2×10 2 cfu로 매우 낮은 것을 확인 할 수 있었다. 결과적으로 cDNA library를 만들 때 먼저 random primer를 사용하여 First strand를 합성하여 poly A를 제거하고, 다음으로 sonication을 1초 실시하여 300~700 bp정도의 적절한 size의 insert를 생성하고, 마지막으로 electro-transformation을 실시하여 transformation 효율을 높인다면 VIGS vector에 적합한 cDNA library를 만들 수 있을 것으로 사료된다.

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is a species complex, including at least 24 biotypes which express different ecological and physiological characteristics. B. tabaci is one of the most serious pests in the horticultural crops in worldwide level. B. tabaci infests over 600 plant species and also indirectly damages plants by the honeydew excretion. Moreover, whiteflies transmit more than 100 plant viruses, especially begomoviruses. Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV) which infested severely in tomato cultivars is transmitted by the vector insect, B. tabaci. Here, we demonstrated whether gene expression of B. tabaci is regulated by the oral ingestion of dsRNA. Double strand RNA (dsRNA) of heat shock protein 70 gene (hsp70) was produced from cDNA by using the specific primer. Whitefly adults were allowed to ingest sugar solution containing dsRNA for 3 hr in the two-layered parafilm feeding tube. Quantitative realtime PCR showed that whiteflies which ingest hsp70 dsRNA completely knockdown its transcript expression. Whiteflies ingestded dsRNA increased mortality by heat shock but not by cold shock. Further research will focus the role of hsp70 in various environmental stresses against insects.

Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest in various horticultural crops in the world. Due to use of chemical pesticide for their management they develop pesticide resistance and environmental contamination. It is necessary to develop alternative bio-pesticides using natural products from plants and natural enemies. Nicotiana benthamiana is a variety of wild tobacco plants and produce acyl sugars from glandular trichomes in the leaves. When adult whiteflies were reared with fresh N. benthamiana leaves, they were completely dead within 84 h. Oral feeding of 20% N. benthamiana extracts using ethanol and water showed complete mortality of whiteflies within 48 hours. Spray of N. benthamiana extracts into the leaves was lethal to eggs but not to nymphs of whiteflies. Further, tomato plants sprayed with N. benthamiana extracts were highly repellent to adult whiteflies. Quantitative real-time PCR indicated that the expression of various genes of B. tabaci was changed by oral feeding of N. benthamiana extract. This study suggests N. benthamiana extract is a useful for the control of whiteflies and can be used as an alternative natural pesticide for the whitefly management.

Bemisia tabaci is a serious pest in various horticultural crops in the world. The management of B. tabaci has been typically carried out by chemical pesticides. Due to the development of pesticide resistance and environmental contamination, however, it is necessary to develop alternative biopesticides using natural products from plants and natural enemies. Nicotiana benthamiana is a variety of wild tobacco plants and produce acyl sugars from glandular trichomes in the leaves. Acyl sugars are known to be highly toxic to various plant sapping insects such as whiteflies, aphids and thrips. Here, we extracted acyl sugars in two different ways from the leaves. At first, collected leaves were simply washed with water. Otherwise, collected leaves firstly dried and homogenized into the powder, then extracted with ethanol. Spray of 10% water-extracted solution into adult whiteflies showed 80% mortality. Otherwise, spray of 10% ethanol-extracted solutions showed complete mortality at 48 h after treatment and also strong repellency of adult whiteflies into the treated tomato plants. Our results suggest N. benthamiana is a useful for the control of whiteflies and can be used as an alternative natural pesticide for the whitefly management.

Bemisia tabaci, sweetpotato whitefly, has been recognized one of the most destructive insect pests worldwide because of increased resistance to some insecticide groups requiring alternative strategies for its control. We conducted a study of the influence of relative humidity, temperature and different developmental stages on the susceptibility of sweetpotato whitefly to conidia of Isaria javanica isolate, which had been reported high virulence against Q biotype of B. tabaci. The mortality of tobacco whitefly was low at low constant relative humidities, but was high when kept high humidity for first 24 hours and transferred to low humidity. The Isaria isolate had wide range of temperature (15℃ to 35℃) to control sweetpotato whitefly. The isolate has virulence to the egg and all developmental stages of nymph of B. tabaci. These results indicated that the isolate had good control effects at various environmental conditions and is an excellent candidate to develop a microbial pesticide to control sweetpotato whitefly.

Sweetpotato whitefly (Bemisia tabaci), especially Q biotype, has been recognized one of the most destructive insect pests worldwide because of increased resistance to some insecticide groups requiring alternative strategies for its control. We studied the conidia production of entomopathogenic fungus Isaria javanica Pf04, which had been reported high virulence isolate against Q biotype of B. tabaci, using grain. Brown rice was most suitable for conidia mass production of the isolate of I. javanica. Conidia was produced high at 25 ~ 27.5℃. The isolate produced more spores when conidia suspension directly inoculated onto media than two-phase fermentation. When concentration of inoculum was high spore production was high, but increasing rate of conidia production was highest at low inoculum concentration (1×105 conidia/ml) as 6,700 times increase compared with 20 times increase at high inoculum concentration (1×108 conidia/ml). These results indicated that the isolate can produce more conidia with cheap agricultural product and can develop as a microbial pesticide to control sweetpotato whitefly.

The oral toxicities of symbiotic bacteria Photorhabdus temperata ssp temperata (Ptt), mutually associated with entomopathogenic nematode Heterorhabditis megidis, and P. luminescens ssp. laumondii (TT01) with H. bacteriophora, were demonstrated to adults of the sweetpotato whitefly Bemisia tabaci. Sucrose solution (25%) containing bacteria-free supernatant of culture media of symbiotic bacteria was ingested into adult whiteflies within the glass tube. Whitefly mortalities were shown similar patterns against two bacterial media. Mortalities were significantly increased to 60-64% at 36 hours and almost 100% at 60 hours after treatments. In addition, We demonstrated the effect of oral ingestion of symbiont culture media on the gene expression of B. tabaci. Several genes fluctuated those expression levels. Our results suggest that oral ingestion of symbiont culture media of entomopathogenic nematodes significantly changed metabolic rates and highly lethal to whiteflies. The use of symbiotic bacteria of entomopathogenic nematodes provides a great potential as an alternative genetic resource of Bacillus thuringiensis, a major resource of microbial insecticide.

Insect pest may move to near area to forage the food by adverse changes of their environments. Understanding these behaviors of searching the host will be helpful for further control. This study was performed to investigate the host preference and distribution of B. tabaci in a host plant when they needs. Once entered an area including hosts, B. tabaci will select a host rather than non-host and stayed for living. Dispersal within a niche (in a whole plant), B. tabaci was observed in lower part in tobacco and middle in tomato when seedlings, but they dispersed throughout the whole fully grown tomato plants with irregular inclined to the under, outer stretched leaves. Bemisia tabaci was also caught massively in yellow sticky traps in height of 30 cm above soil, and 30 cm above a plant. There was no attraction effect by flower model traps and fly catcher. When introduced with different densities (0, 10, 50, 100, 200, and 400) in square cages, the B. tabaci do damaged at the densities of 200 with mild and 400 with severe symptom on plants in two weeks and four weeks after inoculation.

This study was done to evaluate the susceptibility, systemic effect, residual effect and control effect in each developmental stages of biotype Q of sweetpotato whitefly against insecticides, acetamiprid+spinetoram SC and dinotefuran SG. Two insecticides were showed similar activity against the eggs, and showed higher activity in acetamiprid+spinetoram SC against the nymph and adult. In systemic effect, two insecticides have a similar activity. It was showed higher activity in root zone systemic application than leaf zone systemic application. Residual effect was showed higher in acetamiprid+spinetoram SC (92%) than dinotefuran SG (44 %) at seven days after treatment. Control effect was showed all over 90 % activity at tree- and seven days after treatment. Therefore, these insecticides are expected to control the sweetpotato whitefly effectively.

This study was performed to investigate the feeding behavior of sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci using the DC-EPG and the each developmental periods of biotype Q against nine varieties of red pepper. The result was showed that biotype Q did not feed and develop in the Nokkwang variety. In order to analyze the antifeedant, three feeding-preferred varieties (Cheongpungdaegun, Cheonyang, and Sannedeul) and non-preferred variety (Nokkwang) was tested for their sugar compounds using HPLC (ELSD Detector). The detected sugars were erythritol, xylose, xylitol, fructose, glucose, mannitol, and sucrose. In feeding-preferred varieties, the sugar such as erythritol, xylose, and xylitol were present at higher quantity than Nokkwang variety, however, fructose was existed lower quantity than Nokkwang variety. Subsequent bioassay for antifeedant activity, only xylitol showed repelled at lower concentration; however, attracted at higher concentration. Therefore, it is believed that xylitol may play a key role in the variety choice of red pepper by Q biotype of sweetpotato whitefly.

Biotype Q of Sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Homoptera: Aleyrodidae) was raised in seven tomatoes and eight red pepper varieties; however, biotype B did not grow in red pepper varieties. Rokkusanmaru variety of tomato and Cheongpungdaegun variety of red pepper showed the highest susceptibility to biotype B and Q. HPLC (ELSD Detector) analysis showed that the presence of sugars such as erythritol, xylose, xylitol, fructose, glucose, mannitol, and sucrose in red pepper varieties; erythritol, xylose, fructose, glucose, and mannitol was in tomato varieties. Tomato varieties lacks xylitol and sucrose, which were present in the red pepper varieties. Subsequent bioassay with these two sugars, sucrose did not show significant difference between two biotypes; however, xylitol was showed only repellent effect against B biotype. Therefore, it seems that xylitol may play a key role in the selection of host plant by biotype B of sweetpotato whitefly.

담배가루이(B biotype)의 온도조건과 기주별로 발육과 생식에 미치는 영향을 조사하였다. 알에서 성충까지의 발육기간은 에서 86.2일이었고, 에서는 17.0일로 온도가 높아질수록 약 5배 짧았다. 알, 약충 그리고 알에서 성충까지의 발육영점온도는 각각 , , 였고, 유효적산온도는 각각 110.3, 204.7, 317.3일도였다. 부화율은 에서 87.0%, 우화율(부화유충에서 성충까지)은 에서 76.7%로 높았다. 성충수명은 에서 23.6일이었고, 에서는 14.0일로 온도가 높을수록 짧았다. 그리고 암컷한마리당 평균 총산란수는 에서 103.3개로 가장 많았으나 온도간에 유의성은 없었다. 1세대당 순증식율()은 에서 97.33로 가장 높았다. 그리고 내적자연증가율()은 온도가 높아 질수록 높아졌으며, 에서 0.196으로 가장 높았다. 토마토, 고추, 가지, 포인세치아를 기주로 조건에서 알에서 우화까지의 발육기간은 각각 21.2, 28.1, 22.2, 25.5일이었다. 부화율은 고추에서 90.3%로 가장 높았고, 우화율은 가지에서 89.6%로 가장 높았다. 성충수명은 가지에서 26.5일로 가장 길었고, 고추에서 가장 짧았다. 암컷 한마리당 평균 산란수는 토마토와 가지에서 많았다. 1세대당 순증식율()은 가지에서 106.1로 가장 높았고, 내적자연증가율()은 토마토에서 0.165로 가장 높았다. 이상의 결과로 담배가루이의 성장에 적합한 온도범위는 이었고, 가장 적합한 기주식물은 토마토와 가지로 분석되었다.