Bioinformatic analyses of coding and non-coding RNAs in Brevipalpus yothersi and their role in the interaction with Citrus Leprosis virus C and in acaricide response

• Grant number: 23/08989-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• Start date: January 01, 2025
• End date: December 31, 2029
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Agronomy - Plant Health
• Principal Investigator: Daniel Gonzalez Ibeas
• Grantee: Daniel Gonzalez Ibeas
• Host Institution: Instituto Biológico (IB). Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Daniel Júnior de Andrade ; Eduardo Chumbinho de Andrade ; Elliot Watanabe Kitajima ; Eric Roberto Guimarães Rocha Aguiar ; Federico Damian Ariel ; Juliana de Freitas Astúa ; Pedro Luis Ramos González ; Ricardo Harakava ; Valdenice Moreira Novelli
• Associated scholarship(s): 24/18182-2 - Bioinformatic analyses of coding and non-coding RNAs in Brevipalpus yothersi and their role in the interaction with citrus leprosis virus C and in acaricide response., BP.JP

Abstract

Brevipalpus mites cause economic losses in a large number of horticultural and ornamental plants through the transmission of viruses. Affected crops include citrus and coffee, both of relevance for Brazil. In particular, Brevipalpus yothersi is responsible for the transmission of citrus leprosis, a viral disease especially problematic in the state of São Paulo due to the significance of orange crops. Much effort has been done in understanding the plant-virus interaction, but Brevipalpus mites remain less studied at the genetic level. In genome and transcriptome data, protein-coding sequences have been usually the center of the research, but they typically account for a minor percentage of the whole gene space, whereas several studies suggest that the vast majority of a genome is made of structural and regulatory elements essential to study the biology of species, and to address fundamental questions or practical problems in both academic and applied research. Since a large proportion of those non-coding areas are transcribed, they can be characterized by transcriptomic approaches, including long non-coding RNAs, small RNAs, and circular RNAs. Neglecting their analyses to only focus on regular protein-coding transcripts reduces the capabilities for discovery and narrows the scope of the studies. This proposal outlines the setup of a line of research on computational genomics of agricultural pests, focused on the exploration of non-coding RNAs by omic tools. The project includes the scaffolding of the current genome draft of Brevipalpus yothersi, and transcriptome analyses for the annotation of coding and non-coding areas of its genome, as well as to answer relevant questions regarding the virus-mite interaction, pesticide response, gene silencing pathways in mites, and virome content. Taking advantage of those research deliveries, the proposal also addresses the development of new-generation pesticides based on RNA interference technology, as an alternative to conventional chemical acaricides. (AU)