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The whitefly Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) is an invasive insect pest affecting the yield of many economically important crops including ornamental plants, vegetables, grain legumes, and cotton1,2. Beside damage caused through direct phloem-feeding, the homopteran species harms plants indirectly by the excretion of large amounts of honeydew onto the surfaces of leaves and fruits, as well as by the transmission of numerous plant pathogenic viruses1,3,4. Recent genetic studies comparing DNA sequences of the mitochondrial gene cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) revealed that B. tabaci is a species complex of at least 34 morphocryptic species3,4. Two highly invasive and damaging members within this complex, biotype B originating from the Middle East and the Asian Minor region, as well as biotype Q originating from the Mediterranean region, have been dispersed globally through international trading activities with plant products, particularly by the transportation of ornamentals1,5,6. Due to its worldwide pest status, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) listed B. tabaci as one of the "world's 100 worst invasive alien species" and members of the species complex are regulated organisms by many countries1,3,4.
In the European Union (EU), B. tabaci is listed in the Plant Health Directive 2000/29/EC Annex 1AI as a quarantine organism whose introduction from non-EU countries and its dissemination within the EU are banned4. An essential prevention measure against the spread of quarantine organisms is the inspection of plant shipments at points of entry (POEs) such as airports and seaports7,8. In the case a quarantine organism is found, the National Plant Protection Organization (NPPO) in charge takes action by either rejecting or treatment (including destruction) of the infested shipment9. However, officers inspecting the imports often do not have the taxonomic expertise to accurately identify the vast range of pest species associated with global trade9. Especially the identification of immature life stages (e.g., eggs and larvae) without distinct morphological keys is virtually impossible for non-taxonomists8,9,10. Consequently, to enable implementation of quarantine measures with minimal delay, there is a need for alternative, rapid on-site identification assays9.
A candidate method is the loop-mediated isothermal DNA amplification (LAMP) technology that has recently been shown to be a suitable technology for the identification of plant pathogens11,12,13. LAMP is highly specific because the method uses at least two primer pairs recognizing six distinct DNA target sequences14. Due to the DNA strand displacement activity of the Bst DNA polymerase, LAMP reactions are performed under isothermal conditions14. Hence, in contrast to conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based assays there is no need for a thermal cycler13,14. Another advantage over PCR-based assays is its resilience against potential inhibitors in the DNA extract, circumventing the need for a DNA purification step13. Due to the protocol's speed and simplicity, LAMP may even be performed under on-site conditions using a portable, battery driven real-time detection device8,15.
A LAMP assay was designed in response to the demand for a rapid on-site identification method for B. tabaci8. The overarching aim was to develop a protocol that can be performed by plant health inspectors with limited laboratory training. A strong focus was, therefore, set on optimizing speed and simplicity of the protocol. While existing diagnostic tests have generally been developed for the identification of one or several biotypes of B. tabaci, the novel LAMP assay covers the whole B. tabaci species complex8,16,17,18. The problem of the pronounced genetic within-taxon diversity of the complex was solved by using combinations of different primer sets and the application of degenerate primers8. The novel B. tabaci LAMP assay is designed in such a way that the primers target a fragment at the 3' end of the mitochondrial COI gene8. This gene presents a suitable target for animal diagnostic assays because it harbors regions conserved enough to ensure diagnostic sensitivity for a specific species, while discriminating enough between closely related organisms19,20. Furthermore, the COI gene is often used as a genetic marker in population genetic studies and as a signature sequence in DNA barcoding analyses, resulting in numerous DNA sequence entries in open source databases such as GenBank and BOLD21,22. Beside the publicly available COI sequences from B. tabaci, COI sequences from closely related species (Aleurocanthus spp. [N = 2], Aleurochiton aceris, Aleurodicus dugesii, Bemisia spp. [N = 3], Neomaskellia andropogonis, Tetraleurodes acaciae, and Trialeurodes spp. [N = 4]) were included in the primer design of this study and used to assess diagnostic sensitivity and specificity in silico8.
Due to the accuracy of the method, its speed (<1 h) and the simplicity of the protocol, the assay has been shown to be suitable for on-site application when implemented as part of the import control procedure at a Swiss POE8.