insects Article Deep Sequencing of Small RNAs in the Whitefly Bemisia tabaci Reveals Novel MicroRNAs Potentially Associated with Begomovirus Acquisition and Transmission 1, , 1, ,§ 2 1 Daniel K. Hasegawa y z, Md Shamimuzzaman y , Wenbo Chen , Alvin M. Simmons , Zhangjun Fei 2,3 and Kai-Shu Ling 1,* 1 USDA, Agricultural Research Service, U.S. Vegetable Laboratory, 2700 Savannah Hwy, Charleston, SC 29414, USA;
[email protected] (D.K.H.);
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[email protected] (A.M.S.) 2 Boyce Thompson Institute, 533 Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA;
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[email protected] (Z.F.) 3 USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Robert W. Holley Center for Agriculture and Health, 538 Tower Road, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA * Correspondence:
[email protected] Authors contributed equally. y Current address: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Crop Improvement and Protection Research Unit, z 1636 East Alisal Street, Salinas, CA 93905, USA. § Current address: USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Edward T. Schafer Agricultural Research Center, 1616 Albrecht Blvd. North, Fargo, ND 58102, USA. Received: 2 July 2020; Accepted: 21 August 2020; Published: 23 August 2020 Abstract: The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is a notorious insect vector that transmits hundreds of plant viruses, affecting food and fiber crops worldwide, and results in the equivalent of billions of U.S. dollars in crop loss annually. To gain a better understanding of the mechanism in virus transmission, we conducted deep sequencing of small RNAs on the whitefly B. tabaci MEAM1 (Middle East-Asia Minor 1) that fed on tomato plants infected with tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV).