Enhanced Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Thailand Virus Suppression Through Multi-Disease and Insect-Resistant Tomato Lines Combining Virus and Vector Resistance

Tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>) is an essential vegetable crop cultivated worldwide, but its production is highly vulnerable to tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD), which is transmitted by whiteflies (<i>Bemisia tabaci</i>). Management strategies typically focus on c...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Shruthi Shimoga Prabhakar, Yun-Che Hsu, Joyce Yen, Hsiu-Yi Chou, Mei-Ying Lin, Mallapuram Shanthi Priya, Stephen Othim, Srinivasan Ramasamy, Assaf Eybishitz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-07-01
Series:Insects
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4450/16/7/721
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Tomato (<i>Solanum lycopersicum</i>) is an essential vegetable crop cultivated worldwide, but its production is highly vulnerable to tomato yellow leaf curl disease (TYLCD), which is transmitted by whiteflies (<i>Bemisia tabaci</i>). Management strategies typically focus on controlling either the virus or its vector. This study evaluates the effectiveness of multi-disease and insect-resistant tomato lines, developed by the World Vegetable Center (WorldVeg), which integrate <i>Ty-1</i>/<i>Ty-3</i> genes for virus resistance and <i>WF2-10 and WF3-09</i> genes for whitefly resistance. Virus accumulation, whitefly settling behavior, and adult mortality were assessed among multi-resistant lines, a Ty-resistant line, a whitefly-resistant line, and a susceptible check using preference bioassays, controlled inoculation experiments, and acylsugar quantification. Multi-resistant lines exhibited significantly higher acylsugar concentrations, reduced whitefly preference for settling, and increased whitefly adult mortality. Additionally, these lines displayed less severe disease symptoms and lower virus accumulation over time than Ty-resistant, whitefly-resistant, and susceptible controls. These findings highlight the superior efficacy of combined virus and vector resistance in mitigating tomato yellow leaf curl Thailand virus (TYLCTHV) transmission. This research underscores the importance of integrated genetic resistance as a key element of sustainable integrated pest management strategies, offering an environmentally friendly solution for safeguarding global tomato production.
ISSN:2075-4450