Research on tomato resistance to the virus-transmitter whitefly Bemisia tabaci undertaken during the last years in Madrid (Spain)

Abstract

Whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) is an important pest of horticultural crops worldwide, including tomato plants, whose damage may be directly through phloem feeding or indirectly by the transmission of plant viruses such as Tomato Yellow Leaf Curl Viruses. Although control of B. tabaci is based mainly on the application of insecticides, most of these chemicals are environmentally toxic and whiteflies appear to be resistant to many of them. Among the most outstanding alternative tools to insecticides, the use of plant resistance, either innate or induced, is outlined as one of the strategies of efficient and environmentally respectful control. In different studies carried out by our group in Madrid during the last years (with collaboration of other researchers from Spain and USA), we obtained that the tomato gene Mi-1.2 is responsible for innate resistance to both B- and Q- biotypes of B. tabaci, and the Rme1 locus is also required for this resistance. Moreover, BTH or a previous infestation by the potato aphid Macrosiphum euphorbiae induces resistance to Bemisia tabaci in susceptible tomato plants.