Climate change may drive the distribution of tribe Zyginelline pests in China and the Indo-China Peninsula to shift towards higher latitude river-mountain systems

BACKGROUND

Tribe Zyginelline leafhoppers can transmit plant viruses and are important pests that affect agriculture, forestry, and animal husbandry, causing serious economic losses. The potential distribution patterns of Zyginellini will change under climate change. Therefore, the best-performing random forest and maximum entropy models among 12 commonly used ecological niche models, alongside an ensemble model, were selected to predict the changes in habitat suitability distribution of Zyginellini under current and future climate scenarios [represented by two shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs), namely SSP126 and SSP585, for three periods (2050s, 2070s, and 2090s)] in China and the Indo-China Peninsula for the first time.

RESULTS

The results revealed that the distribution of Zyginellini was mainly dominated by minimum temperature of coldest month. Under current and future climate scenarios, Zyginellini was mostly distributed southeast of the 400 mm equivalent precipitation line in China, and Vietnam. Under the future SSP126 scenario, the alert areas will mainly be concentrated in Hunan, Jiangxi, Zhejiang, Anhui, and Hebei in China, alongside Myanmar and Thailand in the Indo-China Peninsula. Meanwhile, in the SSP585 scenario, the alert areas in China will increase, whereas there will be little change in the Indo-China Peninsula. Interestingly, from the current to the future, the cores of Zyginelline distribution occurred around rivers and mountains, and shifted from Guizhou along the Yuanjiang River system to higher latitudes in Hunan.

CONCLUSION

Zyginellini prefers higher latitude river-mountain systems under climate change. Our results will contribute to effective pest control strategies and biogeographical research for Zyginellini alongside other Cicadellidae insects. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

The role of insect intestinal microbes in controlling of Empoasca onukii Matsuda (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) pest infestations in the production of tea garden: a review

Pests like the phytophagous bug Empoasca onukii Matsuda frequently harm tea plants. The harm this insect does to agricultural and environmentally sensitive places is extremely harmful since physical and chemical prevention and control are still the primary methods of handling it. Therefore, it is important to develop pest management strategies. Recent research has demonstrated that pathogenic fungus and the gut microbiota interact to induce host and death, and that the gut microbiota, which has a dramatic effect on the host, can engage in pest control. The advancement of genome editing technologies is also new to the field of pest management. The diversity, function, and research methodologies of insect gut microbiota are summarized in this work, and discusses E. onukii Matsuda control options as well as the importance of insect gut microbiome in pest management. In comparison to traditional pesticides and physical prevention and control, the interaction between pathogenic fungi represented by Beauveria bassiana and intestinal microorganisms, as well as their participation in pest management, causes physiological stress on the host, which meets the new requirements of modern agricultural green development and has a protective effect on habitat fragmentation areas (Karst region). Exploring additional harmful fungus for pest management and fully using the specific traits of insect gut microbiota to achieve "killing insects with bacteria" would be a promising technique from this standpoint.

Phylogenetic Analysis of Two New Mitochondrial Genomes of Singapora shinshana and Seriana bacilla from the Karst Region of Southwest China

Leafhoppers have been identified as a serious threat to different plants. To explore the characteristics of mitogenomes and reveal the phylogenetic positions of two species in the Typhlocybinae, complete mitogenomes of Singapora shinshana and Seriana bacilla were sequenced and annotated for the first time with lengths of 15,402 bp and 15,383 bp, respectively. The two mitogenomes contained 13 PCGs, 22 tRNA genes and 2 rRNA genes. The genome content, gene order, nucleotide composition, codon usage and amino acid composition are similar to those of other typical mitogenomes of Typhlocybinae. All 13 PCGs started with ATN codons, except for atp8 (TTA) and nad5 (TTG). All tRNAs were folded into a typical cloverleaf secondary structure, except for tRNA-Ser1 and tRNA-Val. Moreover, phylogenetic trees were constructed and analyzed based on all the PCGs from 42 mitogenomes using maximum likelihood (ML) and Bayesian inference (BI) methods. The results supported that eleven subfamilies are all monophyletic groups, S. shinshana and S. bacilla are members of Erythroneurini, but S. shinshana and the genus Empoascanara have a very close relationship with ((((Empoascanara sipra+ Empoascanara wengangensis) + Empoascanara dwalata) + Empoascanara gracilis) + S. shinshana), and S. bacilla is closely related to the genus Mitjaevia ((Mitjaevia dworakowskae + Mitjaevia shibingensis) + S. bacilla). These results provide valuable information for future study of evolutionary relationships in Typhlocybinae.

Structural features and phylogenetic implications of Cicadellidae subfamily and two new mitogenomes leafhoppers

Complete mitochondrial genome sequences facilitate species identification and analyses of phylogenetic relationships. However, the available data are limited to the diverse and widespread insect family Cicadellidae. This study analyzes and summarizes the complete mitochondrial genome structure characteristics of 11 leafhopper subfamilies and two newly sequenced Typhlocybinae species, Empoascanara wengangensis and E. gracilis. Moreover, using 13PCGs and rRNA data to analyze the nucleotide diversity, evolution rate, and the phylogenetic relationship between the subfamilies of 56 species, verifying the taxonomic status analysis of E. wengangensis and E. gracilis. The analysis results show that the genome structures of the subfamilies and the newly sequenced two species are very similar, and the size of the CR region is significantly related to the repeat unit. However, in the entire AT-skews and CG-skews, the AT-skews of other subfamilies are all positive, and CG-skews are negative, while Empoascini of Typhlocybinae and Ledrinae are the opposite. Furthermore, among 13PCGs, the AT-skews of 13 species are all negative while CG-skews are positive, which from Empoascini in Typhlocybinae, Idiocerinae, Cicadellinae, Ledrinae, and Evacanthinae. Phylogenetic analysis shows that ML and PB analysis produce almost consistent topologies between different data sets and models, and some relationships are highly supported and remain unchanged. Mileewinae is a monophyletic group and is a sister group with Typhlocybinae, and the sister group of Evacanthinae is Ledrinae + Cicadellinae. Phylogenetic analysis grouped the two newly sequenced species with other species of Typhlocybinae, which was separated from other subfamilies, and all Erythroneurini insects gathered together. However, E. gracilis grouped into a single group, not grouped with species of the same genus (Empoascanara). This result does not match the traditional classification, and other nuclear genes or transcriptome genes may be needed to verify the result. Nucleotide diversity analysis shows that nad4 and nad5 may be evaluated as potential DNA markers defining the Cicadellidae insect species.