Asian Citrus Psyllid Genome

Genomic information of insect pests for development of management strategies is invaluable.  The Asian citrus psyllid, Diaphorina citri is the vector of plant-infecting bacteria associated with the citrus disease, huanglongbing, resulting in fruit loss and tree death.  The psyllid’s genome (~487 Mb) provides a valuable resource for development of new management tools, like RNA interference.   We report on the use of a new software tool for alignment, pb-jelly (Adam C. English), which enables the assembly of PacBio reads with an already assembled draft genome produced from Illumina reads.  The transcriptome prediction of ~33,000 across adults, nymphs, and eggs provided information of life stage specific genes, with a total gene prediction greater than ~25,058.  The data are being used to develop methods of psyllid management, which are highly specific to psyllids.  Datasets have been made available to the scientific community to advance efforts in the development of RNAi approaches (http://www.psyllid.org/node/10).  RNAi and gene expression studies have included areas on immunity, toxicology, and responses to environmental conditions.  Advances in functional genomics have also demonstrated the importance of microbes, such as endosymbionts in psyllids to be associated with survival, and pathogen spread.  Thus, the establishment of an international genomics approach has opened broad collaborations to advance development of long-term management strategies against D. citri to reduce or prevent the spread of huanglongbing.