Functional Divergence of Plant-Derived Thaumatin-Like Protein Genes in Two Closely Related Whitefly Species

文献类型： 外文期刊

第一作者： Hu, Yuan

作者： Hu, Yuan;Gong, Cheng;Yang, Zezhong;Han, Haolin;Tian, Tian;Yang, Xin;Xie, Wen;Wang, Shaoli;Wu, Qingjun;Guo, Zhaojiang;Zhang, Youjun;Yang, Zezhong;Zhou, Xuguo;Turlings, Ted C. J.;Turlings, Ted C. J.

作者机构：

关键词： evolutionary novelty; functional divergence; horizontal gene transfer; thaumatin-like protein; whiteflies

期刊名称：ADVANCED SCIENCE （ 影响因子：14.1； 五年影响因子：15.6 ）

ISSN：

年卷期： 2025 年 12 卷 16 期

页码：

收录情况： SCI

摘要： The recent discovery that various insects have acquired functional genes through horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has prompted numerous studies into this puzzling and fascinating phenomenon. So far, horizontally transferred genes are found to be functionally conserved and largely retained their ancestral functions. It evidently has not yet been considered that horizontally transferred genes may evolve and can contribute to divergence between species. Here, it is first showed that the genomes of the two widespread and agriculturally important whiteflies Trialeurodes vaporariorum and Bemisia tabaci both contain a plant-derived thaumatin-like protein (TLP) gene, but with highly distinct functions in these closely related pests. In T. vaporariorum, TLP has maintained a function similar to that of the plant donor, acting as an antimicrobial protein to resist fungal infection; but in sharp contrast, in B. tabaci, TLP has evolved into an effector that suppresses plant defense responses. These findings reveal an as-yet undescribed scenario of cross-species functional differentiation of horizontally transferred genes and suggest that the HGT-mediated evolutionary novelty can contribute to ecotypic divergence and even speciation.

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