New insights from the virome of Halyomorpha halys (St ål, 1855)

Virus Res. 2022 May 14:198802. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2022.198802. Online ahead of print.ABSTRACTHalyomorpha halys (Stål, 1855) (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), the brown marmorated stink bug, is an invasive pentatomid native to East-Asia, and introduced worldwide in recent times. It is a polyphagous pest with approximately 300 host plants, which, due to its plasticity, reproductive and feeding behaviour, long-distance flight, and walking as well as human-mediated dispersal ability, is able to cause significant economic and ecological damage. In several cases pest control mediated by insecticide treatments leads to unsatisfactory efficacy, mostly due to insect recovery ability. Thus, the most promising method for the long-term management of this pest has been focused with growing emphasis on classical biological control strategies. In this framework, viruses have untill now been poorly investigated in H. halys with only a single virus described from the US territory. For this reason we investigated the virome associated with a small and well described population of H. halys from Piedmont (Italy) describing for the first time 7 new viral sequences belonging to different taxonomical groups. Further studies will be necessary to assess the biological and ecological effects the viruses have on their host. Due to the agricultural importance of this insect, the biological characterization of these viruses would give important information on the possibility to exploit viral entities as b...

Source: Virus Research - May 17, 2022 Category: Virology Authors: L Giovannini G Mazza W Chitarra G Sabbatini-Peverieri C Sonnati P F Roversi L Nerva Source Type: research