Gene Is Required for -Mediated Resistance of Tomato to the Whitefly .

The gene of tomato () confers resistance against some nematodes and insects, but the resistance mechanisms differ depending on the harmful organism, as a hypersensitive reaction (HR) occurs only in the case of nematodes. The gene is required for -mediated resistance to nematodes, aphids, and whiteflies, and several additional proteins also play a role in this resistance. Among them, the involvement of the chaperone HSP90 has been demonstrated in -mediated resistance for aphids and nematodes, but not for whiteflies. In this work, we studied the implication of the gene in the resistance against the whitefly by means of Tobacco rattle virus (TRV)-based virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS). The silencing of the gene in tomato Motelle plants carrying the gene resulted in a decrease in resistance to whiteflies, as oviposition values were significantly higher than those on non-silenced plants. This decrease in resistance was equivalent to that caused by the silencing of the gene itself. Infiltration with the control TRV vector did not alter mediated resistance to . Similar to the gene, silencing of occurs partially, as silenced plants showed a significant but not complete suppression of gene expression. Thus, our results demonstrate the requirement of in the -mediated resistance to and reinforce the hypothesis of a common model for this resistance to nematodes and insects.