Virus Evolution, 2018, 4(1): vey009 doi: 10.1093/ve/vey009 Research article The virome of Drosophila suzukii, an invasive pest of soft fruit Nathan C. Medd,1,*,† Simon Fellous,2 Fergal M. Waldron,1 Anne Xue´reb,2 Madoka Nakai,3 Jerry V. Cross,4 and Darren J. Obbard1,5 1Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK, 2Centre de Biologie pour la Gestion des Populations, INRA, 755 avenue du Campus Agropolis, 34988, Montferrier-sur-Lez cedex, France, 3Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Saiwaicho, Fuchu, Tokyo 183-8509, Japan, 4NIAB EMR, New Road, East Malling, Kent, ME19 6BJ, UK and 5Centre for Immunity, Infection and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, Ashworth Laboratories, Charlotte Auerbach Road, Edinburgh EH9 3FL, UK *Corresponding author: E-mail:
[email protected] †http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7833-5909 Abstract Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) is one of the most damaging and costly pests to invade temperate horticultural regions in recent history. Conventional control of this pest is challenging, and an environmentally benign microbial biopesticide is highly desirable. A thorough exploration of the pathogens infecting this pest is not only the first step on the road to the de- velopment of an effective biopesticide, but also provides a valuable comparative dataset for the study of viruses in the model family Drosophilidae. Here we use a metatransciptomic approach to identify viruses infecting this fly in both its native (Japanese) and invasive (British and French) ranges. We describe eighteen new RNA viruses, including members of the Picornavirales, Mononegavirales, Bunyavirales, Chuviruses, Nodaviridae, Tombusviridae, Reoviridae, and Nidovirales, and dis- cuss their phylogenetic relationships with previously known viruses.