Exploring the virome of Gyropsylla spegazziniana, a major yerba mate pest

Abstract

The yerba mate psyllid (Gyropsylla spegazziniana) poses a significant threat to yerba mate crops, causing extensive economic losses. While some ecological aspects as well as control strategies have been studied, its associated viral diversity remains unexplored. Here, by generating the first RNA high-throughput analysis (HTS) of this pest, we explored the G. spegazziniana virome, revealing novel and diverse RNA viruses. We characterized five new viral members belonging to distinct families, with evolutionary cues of beny-like viruses (Benyviridae), picorna-like viruses (Picornaviridae), and sobemo-like viruses (Solemoviridae); which were tentatively named Gyropsylla spegazziniana beny-like virus 1 (GSBlV1), Gyropsylla spegazziniana picorna-like virus 1 (GSPlV1), and Gyropsylla spegazziniana sobemo-like virus 1-3 (GSSlV1-3), respectively. Phylogenetic analysis of the bi-segmented and highly divergent sobemo-like viruses showed a distinctive evolutionary trajectory of its encoding proteins at the periphery of recently reported invertebrate Sobelivirales. The beny-like virus belonged to a cluster of insect-associated beny-like viruse; while the picorna-like virus clustered together with psyllid-associated picorna-like viruses. These results highlight the existence of a complex virome within G. spegazziniana and establish the basis for future studies investigating the ecological roles, evolutionary dynamics, and potential biocontrol applications of these viruses in the G. spegazziniana -yerba mate eco-systems.