First results of the virome of Scaphoideus titanus, Frankliniella occidentalis and Thrips tabaci Abbà, Simona1; Chiapello, Marco1; Ottati, Sara1; Galetto, Luciana1; Tavella, Luciana2; Turina, Massimo1; Marzachì, Cristina1 1Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection of the National Research Council of Italy, IPSP-CNR, Turin, Italy 2Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Forestali ed Alimentari DISAFA, Università degli Studi di Torino, Grugliasco, Italy Corresponding author: simona.abba@ipsp.cnr.it IT FR CH HU 2 3 2 1 3 1 2 2 Gland Saint−Nexans Corgoloin Gomba Asti Verona Togliano Vacri Iflaviridae Parvoviridae unclassified USA 6 1 0 0 % 33% 17% 33% 17% Muncie (IL) Virus families Peribunyaviridae Nodaviridae unclassified Reoviridae Number of different virus species Virus families Number of different virus species Native to North America, it was introduced by accident to Europe 8 sampling sites on 5 plant species: pepper, strawberry, watermelon, tomato, Dimorphoteca 4 sampling sites on 2 plant species: leek, onion Viroplant has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon H2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Grant Agreement N. 773567 69% 31% 25% 6% Sampled insects: 32 Gland (CH) 44% 56% 8% 8% 40% Sampled insects: 18 Saint−Nexans (FR) 20% 80% 49% 31% Sampled insects: 20 Corgoloin (FR) 42% 58% 58% Sampled insects: 38 Gomba (CH) 61% 39% 15% 5% 19% Sampled insects: 36 Asti (IT) 67% 33% 33% Sampled insects: 12 Verona (IT) 78% 22% 13% 9% Sampled insects: 46 Togliano (IT) 50% 50% 33% 17% Sampled insects: 12 Vacri (IT) Muncie(Illinois) Sampled insects: 3 % insects with viruses % insects with no viruses % insects with viruses Virus prevalence Sampling sites and viral species Sampling sites and viral species Scaphoideus titanus virome Thrips tabaci (OT) and Frankliniella occidentalis (WFT) viromes Flaviviridae Iflaviridae Lispiviridae Mesoniviridae Parvoviridae Peribunyaviridae Reoviridae Rhabdoviridae unclassified Number of different virus species A drastic reduction in the use of chemicals and pesticides in agriculture requires new sustainable biocontrol strategies to restrain pathogen multiplication and virulence in plants. VIROPLANT is a EU-funded research project whose primary objective is to propose viruses as potential biocontrol agents of some speciﬁc plant diseases spread in Europe. RNAseq was applied to characterize the virosphere of Scaphoideus titanus (Fam. Cicalinae), vector of Flavescence dorée phytoplasma in Europe, Frankliniella occidentalis (Fam. Thripidae) and Thrips tabaci (Fam. Thripidae), vectors of Tomato spotted wilt virus and Onion yellow spot virus, respectively. The identiﬁed viral species were all conﬁrmed by RT-PCR. All insects were collected on Vitis Vinifera. The three viral species identiﬁed in Europe are similar to: Psammotettix alienus iﬂavirus 1 (41.6% identity), Spissistilus festinus virus 1 (54.0% identity) and Diatraea saccharalis densovirus (35.1% identity). Virus families Insects were collected on diﬀerent plant species, which are represented alongside the sampling sites OT WFT Work Package 4 tasks are: i) analyse viromes of exemplary agronomical insect vectors and pests; ii) test the pathogenic potential of some newly found viruses. IT