A real-time PCR assay to differentiate the B and Q biotypes of the Bemisia tabaci complex in Cyprus

A real-time PCR assay based on TaqMan technology was developed and evaluated for the rapid detection of the B and Q biotypes of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae). A survey was conducted during 2005-2007 in order to identify the distribution and prevalence of B. tabaci biotypes in Cyprus using the real-time PCR assay. More than 700 adult whiteflies collected from 35 cultivated and weed plant species were individually haplotyped using TaqMan PCR, and the results of the assay were validated by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis and DNA sequencing of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (mtCOI) gene. Two biotypes, B and Q, were identified in the collected plant species on the island. The real-time PCR and RFLP assay consistently yielded the same results, although the real-time assay was more sensitive and less time consuming. Phylogenetic analysis of the mtCOI DNA sequences corroborated the identity of the B and Q biotypes 100% of the time and by phylogenetic analysis the haplotypes grouped, as expected, in the major North African-Mediterranean-Middle Eastern clade of the B. tabaci complex.