Rapid spread of a densovirus in a major crop pest following wide-scale adoption of Bt-cotton in China
- Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
- Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, China
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico
- Lancaster University, United Kingdom
Abstract
Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) crops have been widely planted and the effects of Bt-crops on populations of the target and non-target insect pests have been well studied. However, the effects of Bt-crops exposure on microorganisms that interact with crop pests have not previously been quantified. Here, we use laboratory and field data to show that infection of Helicoverpa armigera with a densovirus (HaDV2) is associated with its enhanced growth and tolerance to Bt-cotton. Moreover, field monitoring showed a much higher incidence of cotton bollworm infection with HaDV2 in regions cultivated with Bt-cotton than in regions without it, with the rate of densovirus infection increasing with increasing use of Bt-cotton. RNA-seq suggested tolerance to both baculovirus and Cry1Ac were enhanced via the immune-related pathways. These findings suggest that exposure to Bt-crops has selected for beneficial interactions between the target pest and a mutualistic microorganism that enhances its performance on Bt-crops under field conditions.
Data availability
RNA-seq data have been deposited in NCBI, see supplementary table 8.All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supplementary file.
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Author details
Funding
the Key Project for Breeding Genetic Modified Organisms (2019ZX08012004)
- Kongming Wu
the Key Project for Breeding Genetic Modified Organisms (2016ZX08012004)
- Kongming Wu
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BB/L026821/1)
- Kenneth Wilson
UK Research Council Global Challenges Research Fund Grant (BB/P023444/1)
- Kenneth Wilson
The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.
Copyright
© 2021, Xiao et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Rapid spread of a densovirus in a major crop pest following wide-scale adoption of Bt-cotton in China
eLife 10:e66913.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.66913
