Distribution of the bacterial symbiont Rickettsia in USA populations of the sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci

The sweetpotato whitefly, Bemisia tabaci, ranks as one of the world's worst invasive species, damaging crops by feeding, producing sticky honeydew and vectoring viruses. A Rickettsia bacterium recently swept through B. tabaci populations in the southwestern USA. Rickettsia are α-Proteobacteria that are best known for the lineages that are arthropod-transmitted human pathogens. In the laboratory, Rickettsia dramatically increases whitefly fitness and alters whitefly sex ratios, with predicted consequences for whitefly invasiveness in the field. I present the results of a survey to determine the distribution of Rickettsia in B. tabaci from cotton fields in the USA.