Whiteflies (Bemisia tabaci) rank among the most damaging agricultural pests worldwide, largely because they transmit plant viruses as they feed on crops. A new research article in Frontiers in Insect Science reports a two-year survey of the viruses associated with B. tabaci populations collected from cucurbit crops in Tifton, Georgia, in 2023 and 2024.
The motivation is substantial: the authors note that whiteflies cause over $100 million in losses to vegetable production annually through the transmission of plant viruses. Characterizing which viruses are carried by B. tabaci populations in a major vegetable-growing region therefore offers a baseline for tracking viral threats to cucurbit production and for understanding virus-vector interactions.
Methodologically, the team collected whiteflies from cucurbit crops across two consecutive growing seasons. Total RNA was extracted from the insects and ribodepleted, then sequenced using 150 bp paired-end reads on an Illumina NovaSeq 6000. Raw reads were quality-assessed and trimmed before being mapped to the B. tabaci reference genome (GCF_918797505.1) on the Alabama HPC, and subsequently mapped to a viral database (viral2019-03) using the Galaxy platform.
To recover viral sequences, the researchers performed de novo transcriptome assembly using rnaviralSPAdes. The assembled contigs were then screened for viral similarity through BLAST-based searches against the NCBI non-redundant nucleotide (nt) and non-redundant protein (nr) databases. Candidate viral contigs underwent further evaluation by read mapping, coverage assessment, taxonomic assignment, and open reading frame prediction, steps designed to distinguish genuine viral sequences from spurious hits.
The analysis identified contigs representing plant viruses, bacteriophages, and insect-associated viruses within the whitefly samples. Among these, the most complete recovery was of cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus (CCYV), a crinivirus: near-complete CCYV RNA1 and RNA2 sequences were assembled from both sampling years, with higher abundance observed in 2024.
In addition to the plant virus, the survey detected a dicistrovirus-like sequence related to the genus Cripavirus in both years. This sequence contained both major open reading frames characteristic of dicistroviruses. Insect-associated viruses of this kind are of interest as potential biocontrol agents, since viruses that infect the vector itself could in principle be developed or evaluated for suppressing whitefly populations, although the present study did not test any such application.
A key conclusion from the work is that CCYV and the dicistrovirus-like sequence were the only viral targets with sufficient read support for genome assembly and molecular validation in both sampling years. In other words, while other viral signatures were detected, these two targets alone met the thresholds for robust sequence recovery and follow-up molecular confirmation across the 2023 and 2024 collections.
The study’s scope carries important caveats. It surveyed whiteflies from cucurbit crops at a single location, Tifton, Georgia, over two years, so the findings describe the virome of those sampled populations rather than a broader regional or national picture. Detection of viral sequences in whiteflies also indicates association with the insects, not necessarily that every virus found is biologically transmitted by them to crops, and the authors frame the work as characterizing the virome rather than demonstrating transmission pathways.
Nevertheless, the survey provides a documented baseline of the B. tabaci virome in a southeastern US cucurbit system, combining metatranscriptomic sequencing with assembly and validation workflows. The consistent recovery of CCYV across both years, with increased abundance in 2024, and the presence of a cripavirus-related sequence with intact open reading frames give researchers concrete targets for future work on virus persistence, virus-vector interactions, and vector pathways in whiteflies, as reflected in the article’s listed keywords.
Subject of Research: Viruses associated with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in Georgia cucurbit crops
Article Title: Survey of viruses associated with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in cucurbits in Georgia, United States
Article References: Fantasia, M. E., Sharma, A., Bag, S., Cremonez, P. S. G., Penick, C. A., & Martin, K. M. (2026). Survey of viruses associated with the whitefly Bemisia tabaci in cucurbits in Georgia, United States. Frontiers in Insect Science, 6, 1898515. https://doi.org/10.3389/finsc.2026.1898515
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.3389/finsc.2026.1898515
Keywords: Bemisia tabaci, whitefly, virome, cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus, dicistrovirus, Cripavirus, crinivirus, metatranscriptomics, Georgia, cucurbits, plant virus transmission, viral biocontrol
News Source: Kristina Jarvis. (October 28, 2026). Whitefly virome survey in Georgia cucurbits reveals cucurbit chlorotic yellows virus and a dicistrovirus-like virus. Scienmag.
