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DsRNA-Mediated Pest Management of Tuta absoluta Is Compatible with Its Biological Control Agent Nesidiocoris tenuis.

ABSTRACT: RNAi-mediated insect pest management has recently shown promising results against the most serious pest of tomato, the tomato leafminer, Tuta absoluta. This study aimed to investigate whether dsRNA (dsTa-αCOP) designed to target the T. absoluta-αCOP gene could cause adverse effects to its biocontrol agent, the mirid predator, Nesidiocoris tenuis. Oral exposure of N. tenuis to dsRNA (dsNt-αCOP) designed to target N. tenuis-αCOP resulted in a 61%, 67% and 55% reduction in its transcript level in comparison to the sucrose, dsGFP and dsTa-αCOP treatments, respectively. In addition, significantly higher mortality of 57% was recorded in dsNt-αCOP-treated N. tenuis when compared to the sucrose (7%), dsGFP (10%) and dsTa-αCOP (10%) treatments. Moreover, the predation rate of ~33-39 Ephestia kuehniella eggs per N. tenuis adult dramatically reduced to almost half in the surviving dsNt-αCOP-treated N. tenuis. This worst-case exposure scenario confirmed for the first time that the RNAi machinery is functional in this species and that the risk of exposure through the oral route is possible. In contrast, dsTa-αCOP did not cause any sub-lethal effects to N. tenuis upon oral exposure. Oral exposure of T. absoluta to dsTa-αCOP resulted in 50% mortality. In the context of a biosafety risk assessment of RNAi-mediated insect management, investigating the effects on non-target organisms is essential in order to include this method as part of an integrated pest management strategy. Based on our laboratory assays, RNAi-mediated control is compatible with the biological control of T. absoluta by its natural enemy N. tenuis, adding the RNAi approach in the armoire of integrated pest management of T. absoluta.

SUBMITTER: Sarmah N

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8063791 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:Tuta absoluta is one of the most damaging pests of tomato crops worldwide. Damage due to larvae may cause up to 100% loss of tomato production. Use of natural enemies to control the pest, notably predatory mirids such as Nesidiocoris tenuis and Macrolophus pygmaeus, is increasingly being promoted. However, considering the potential damage caused to tomatoes by these omnivorous predators in the absence of T. absoluta, an alternative solution could be required to reduce tomato damage and improve the predators' performance. The use of companion plants can be an innovative solution to cope with these issues. The present study aimed to determine the influence of companion plants and alternative preys on the predators' performance in controlling T. absoluta and protecting tomato plants. We evaluated the effect of predators (alone or combined) and a companion plant (sesame (Sesamum indicum)) on T. absoluta egg predation and crop damage caused by N. tenuis. The influence of an alternative prey (Ephestia kuehniella eggs) on the spatial distribution of predators was also evaluated by caging them in the prey presence or absence, either on tomato or sesame plants or on both. We found that the presence of sesame did not reduce the efficacy of N. tenuis or M. pygmaeus in consuming T. absoluta eggs; hatched egg proportion decreased when N. tenuis, M. pygmaeus, or both predators were present. More specifically, this proportion was more strongly reduced when both predators were combined. Sesame presence also reduced necrotic rings caused by N. tenuis on tomato plants. Nesidiocoris tenuis preferred sesame over tomato plants (except when food was provided only on the tomato plant) and the upper part of the plants, whereas M. pygmaeus preferred tomato to sesame plants (except when food was provided only on the sesame plant) and had no preference for a plant part. Combination of predators N. tenuis and M. pygmaeus allows for better coverage of cultivated plants in terms of occupation of different plant parts and better regulation of T. absoluta populations. Sesamum indicum is a potential companion plant that can be used to significantly reduce N. tenuis damage to tomatoes.

Project description:Tuta absoluta (the tomato pinworm) is an invasive insect pest with a highly damaging effect on tomatoes causing between 80 and 100% yield losses if left uncontrolled. Resistance to chemical pesticides have been reported in some T. absoluta populations. Insect microbiome plays an important role in the behavior, physiology, and survivability of their host. In a bid to explore and develop an alternative control method, the associated microbiome of this insect was studied. In this study, we unraveled the bacterial biota of T. absoluta larvae and adults by sequencing and analyzing the 16S rRNA V3-V4 gene regions using Illumina NovaSeq PE250. Out of 2,092,015 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) recovered from 30 samples (15 larvae and 15 adults), 1,268,810 and 823,205 ASVs were obtained from the larvae and adults, respectively. A total of 433 bacterial genera were shared between the adults and larval samples while 264 and 139 genera were unique to the larvae and adults, respectively. Amplicon metagenomic analyses of the sequences showed the dominance of the phylum Proteobacteria in the adult samples while Firmicutes and Proteobacteria dominated in the larval samples. Linear discriminant analysis effect size (LEfSe) comparison revealed the genera Pseudomonas, Delftia and Ralstonia to be differentially enriched in the adult samples while Enterococcus, Enterobacter, Lactococcus, Klebsiella and Wiessella were differentially abundant in the larvae. The diversity indices showed that the bacterial communities were not different between the insect samples collected from different geographical regions. However, the bacterial communities significantly differed based on the sample type between larvae and adults. A co-occurrence network of significantly correlated taxa revealed a strong interaction between the microbial communities. The functional analysis of the microbiome using FAPROTAX showed that denitrification, arsenite oxidation, methylotrophy and methanotrophy as the active functional groups of the adult and larvae microbiomes. Our results have revealed the core taxonomic, functional, and interacting microbiota of T. absoluta and these indicate that the larvae and adults harbor a similar but transitory set of bacteria. The results provide a novel insight and a basis for exploring microbiome-based biocontrol strategy for this invasive insect pest as well as the ecological significance of some of the identified microbiota is discussed.

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DsRNA-Mediated Pest Management of Tuta absoluta Is Compatible with Its Biological Control Agent Nesidiocoris tenuis.

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