Silencing the Autophagy-Related Genes and Promotes SRBSDV Propagation and Transmission in .

Autophagy plays diverse roles in the interaction among pathogen, vector, and host. In the plant virus and insect vector system, autophagy can be an antiviral/pro-viral factor to suppress/promote virus propagation and transmission. Here, we report the antiviral role of autophagy-related genes and in the white-backed planthopper () during the process of transmitting the southern rice black-streaked dwarf virus (SRBSDV). In this study, we annotated two autophagy-related genes, and , from the female transcriptome. The cDNA of and comprised an open reading frame (ORF) of 999 bp and 2295 bp that encodes a protein of 332 and 764 amino acid residues, respectively. has two conserved domains and has one conserved domain. In females exposed to SRBSDV, expression of autophagy-related genes was significantly activated and shared similar temporal patterns to those of SRBSDV S9-1 and S10, all peaking at 4 d post viral exposure. Silencing the expression of and promoted SRBSDV propagation and transmission. This study provides evidence for the first time that autophagy-related genes and play an antiviral role to suppress SRBSDV propagation and transmission.