The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is a devastating cosmopolitan insect pest that inflicts serious damage by direct feeding on plants, secreting honeydew, and vectoring more than 100 plant viruses that belong to different virus genera. The interactions between the whitefly and plant viruses, plants, and environmental factors have been extensively studied. In recent years more than 100,000 expressed sequences tags (ESTs) from the whitefly have been made available to the scientific community by several mass sequencing projects, and a genome sequencing project is underway. Tools for functional analysis of gene expression are being developed for studies in the whitefly. Combining EST and genomic sequences with functional analysis will pave the way for addressing urgent issues in whitefly research and developing better strategies for whitefly control.
Part of the Entomology in Focus book series (ENFO, volume 3)
The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, is a devastating cosmopolitan insect pest that inflicts serious damage by direct feeding on plants, secreting honeydew, and vectoring more than 100 plant viruses that belong to different virus genera. The interactions between the whitefly and plant viruses, plants, and environmental factors have been extensively studied. In recent years more than 100,000 expressed sequences tags (ESTs) from the whitefly have been made available to the scientific community by several mass sequencing projects, and a genome sequencing project is underway. Tools for functional analysis of gene expression are being developed for studies in the whitefly. Combining EST and genomic sequences with functional analysis will pave the way for addressing urgent issues in whitefly research and developing better strategies for whitefly control.
Part of the Entomology in Focus book series (ENFO, volume 3)