Effects of heat stress on virus transmission and virus‐mediated apoptosis in whitefly Bemisia tabaci

Tomato yellow leaf curl virus (TYLCV), a plant DNA virus of the genus Begomovirus, is transmitted by whiteflies of the Bemisia tabaci species complex in a persistent manner. Our previous study indicated that activation of the apoptosis pathway in whiteflies could facilitate TYLCV accumulation and transmission. Considering that temperature change can influence the spread of insect‐borne plant viruses, we focused on plant virus induced‐apoptosis to investigate the underlying mechanism of temperature regulation on plant virus transmission via an insect vector. We found that heat stress (40°C) on whiteflies could facilitate TYLCV accumulation and increase transmission to tomato plants. Despite upregulation of caspase‐1 and caspase‐3 gene expression, heat stress failed to induce an increase in the activation of cleaved caspase‐3 and DNA fragmentation in TYLCV‐infected whiteflies. However, our data failed to determine the role of heat stress in apoptosis modulation of insect–plant virus interplay while still providing clues to understand insect vectors and their transmitted plant viruses. Research Highlights As part of emerging research, the information on apoptosis in whiteflies and their transmitted plant viruses is somewhat lacking. This study found that heat stress could promote virus transmission but exhibit no direct impact on virus‐mediated apoptosis. This information is critical for understanding whiteflies' function in plant diseases transmission and designing new strategies to block virus transmission. This study is about heat stress influence on TYLCV virus transmission and virus‐mediated apoptosis in Bemisia tabaci. The results verify heat stress promoted virus transmission and upregulated caspase transcription but had no direct impact on TYLCV‐mediated apoptosis.