Soybean Thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae) Harbor Highly Diverse Populations of Arthropod, Fungal and Plant Viruses

Abstract

Soybean thrips (Neohydatothrips variabilis) are one of the most efficient vectors of soybean vein necrosis virus, which can cause severe necrotic symptoms in sensitive soybean plants. To determine which other viruses are associated with soybean thrips, the metatranscriptome of soybean thrips, collected by the Midwest Suction Trap Network during 2018, was analyzed. Contigs assembled from the data revealed a remarkable diversity of virus-like sequences. Of the 181 virus-like sequences identified, 155 were novel and associated primarily with taxa of arthropod-infecting viruses, but sequences similar to plant and fungus-infecting viruses were also identified. The novel viruses were predicted to have positive-sense RNA, negative-stranded RNA, double-stranded RNA, and single-stranded DNA genomes. The assembled sequences included 100 contigs that represented at least 95% coverage of a virus genome or genome segment. Sequences represented 12 previously described arthropod viruses including eight viruses reported from Hubei Province in China, and 12 plant virus sequences of which six have been previously described. The presence of diverse populations of plant viruses within soybean thrips suggests they feed on and acquire viruses from multiple host plant species that could be transmitted to soybean. Assessment of the virome of soybean thrips provides, for the first time, information on the diversity of viruses present in thrips.

Complexity and Local Specificity of the Virome Associated with Tospovirus-Transmitting Thrips Species

“…), suggested virus name, the virus abbreviation (ID) in the paper, and the origin of the viral contig. b Double asterisks indicate all the hits from reference 16 . c Asterisks indicate all the blast hits with identity higher than 90.…”

“…After recent groundbreaking work showing the vast diversity of viruses present in insects and invertebrates ( 13 – 15 ), the importance of the insect microbiomes for virus evolution and biology is becoming apparent, but they are greatly understudied in their biological effects on the host. In this respect, up until very recently, viromes associated with thrips among the most important vectors of plant diseases have also been neglected: a list of viruses associated with Neohydatothrips variabilis (Beach) (soybean thrips [ST]), vector of soybean vein necrosis virus, has been only recently provided ( 16 ).…”

Discovery of a Novel Member of the Carlavirus Genus from Soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.)

“…In 2010 and 2012–2014, less than 50 reads were detected for SCV1 in the collected field samples. Even though thrips are not reported to vector carlaviruses [ 4 ], we also assembled a SCV1 genome (MT293130) from RNA-seq data of soybean thrips ( Neohydatothrips variabilis , Beach) that were captured in 2018 by the Midwest Suction Trap Network [ 6 ].…”

The Bunyavirales: The Plant-Infecting Counterparts

“…Considering the importance of arthropods for virus transmission, we must expand investigations to discover the virome of arthropod species (thrips, aphids, mites, mosquitoes, etc.) [ 285 , 286 , 287 , 288 ]. One of the first papers describing viromes in arthropods was reported by Li et al [ 284 ].…”