French researchers reported the transfer of 49 plant genes to the whitefly genome, one of the main agricultural pests in the tropics and subtropics. This is the first study on such a high number of gene transfers from plants to insects. The findings offer the possibility of exploring the relationships between plants and insects, which can allow to innovate in pest control techniques and reduce the use of pesticides.

The whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) is one of the main pests of crops in the tropics and subtropics. After studying its genome, the National Institute of Agricultural, Food and Environmental Research (INRAE) and the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), both from France, identified 49 plant genes transferred to the genome of the insect itself. Never before has such a large number of genes been detected transferred between plants and an insect. These findings open the door to new research on the relationships between plants and insects that can lead to innovative methods of pest control and reduce pesticide use.

The war between plants and herbivore insects dates back millions of years and led the two protagonists to an arms race. While plants display signs and erect physical and chemical barriers, insects develop intelligent strategies to overcome these obstacles. But the genes involved in the adaptation of insects sometimes have surprising origins.

For the first time, recent studies from 2020 and 2021 (Lapadula et al., 2020SXia et al., 2021) showed the transfer of two plant genes to the genome of the whitefly Bemisia tabaci, with a gene giving the whitefly the ability to neutralize toxins produced by plants as a defense mechanism. Intrigued by this discovery, two scientists (one from INRAE and one from CNRS) tried to figure out how many plant-derived genes were in the whitefly genome, which was fully sequenced in 2016.

Source: Agrolink