The whitefly Bemisia tabaci is a closely related group of >35 cryptic species that feed on the phloem sap of a broad range of host plants. Species in the complex differ in their host‐range breadth, but the mechanisms involved remain poorly understood. We investigated, therefore, how six different B. tabaci species cope with the environmental unpredictability presented by a set of four common and novel host plants. Behavioral studies indicated large differences in performances on the four hosts and putative specialization of one of the species to cassava plants. Transcriptomic analyses revealed two main insights. First, a large set of genes involved in metabolism (>85%) showed differences in expression between the six species, and each species could be characterized by its own unique expression pattern of metabolic genes. However, within species, these genes were constitutively expressed, with a low level of environmental responsiveness (i.e., to host change). Second, within each species, sets of genes mainly associated with the super‐pathways “environmental information processing” and “organismal systems” responded to the host switching events. These included genes encoding for proteins involved in sugar homeostasis, signal transduction, membrane transport, and immune, endocrine, sensory and digestive responses. Our findings suggested that the six B. tabaci species can be divided into four performance/transcriptomic “Types” and that polyphagy can be achieved in multiple ways. However, polyphagy level is determined by the specific identity of the metabolic genes/pathways that are enriched and overexpressed in each species (the species' individual metabolic “tool kit”).

中文翻译：

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决定烟粉虱的不同程度多相吞噬的分子机制

烟粉虱烟粉虱 是一组密切相关的> 35种隐性物种，它们以多种寄主植物的韧皮部汁液为食。复合物中的物种在寄主范围上有差异，但是所涉及的机制仍然知之甚少。因此，我们调查了六个不同的烟粉虱物种可以应对四种常见和新颖的寄主植物所带来的环境不可预测性。行为研究表明，在四个寄主上的表现差异很大，并且其中之一被认为是木薯植物。转录组学分析揭示了两个主要见解。首先，参与代谢的大量基因（> 85％）显示出这六个物种之间的表达差异，并且每个物种都可以通过其自身独特的代谢基因表达模式来表征。然而，在物种内，这些基因组成性表达，具有低水平的环境响应性（即对宿主变化的响应）。其次，在每个物种中，主要与超途径“环境信息处理”和“生物系统”相关的基因集对宿主的切换事件作出了反应。这些包括编码与糖稳态，信号转导，膜转运以及免疫，内分泌，感觉和消化反应有关的蛋白质的基因。我们的发现表明，这六个烟粉虱可以分为四种表现/转录组“类型”，可以通过多种方式实现多相吞噬。但是，多相吞噬水平取决于在每个物种中富集和过度表达的代谢基因/途径的特定身份（物种的个体代谢“工具箱”）。