| Summary: | Insect-specific viruses (ISV) are one of the most promising agents for the biological control of insects. The green leafhopper, <i>Cicadella viridis</i> (Linnaeus), is an significant pest in agriculture, and causes economic losses to fruit trees, willows, and field crops. As a representative species of the large family Cicadellidae, ISVs in <i>C. viridis</i> have never been studied, to date. In this study, the full genome sequences of two ISVs, named <i>Cicadella viridis iflavirus</i><i>1</i> (CvIfV1), and <i>Cicadella viridis nido-like virus 1</i> (CvNiLV1), were revealed using a metatranscriptomic approach. A homology search and phylogenetic analysis indicated that CvIfV1 is a new member in the family <i>Iflaviridae</i> (genus <i>Iflavirus</i>) with a typical <i>iflavirus</i> genome organization, whereas CvNiLV1 belongs to the unclassified clade/family of the order <i>Nidovirales</i>. In addition, analysis of virus-derived small interfering RNAs (vsiRNAs) was performed to investigate the antiviral RNA interference (RNAi) response of <i>C. viridis</i>. The vsiRNAs exhibit typical patterns produced by host siRNA-mediated antiviral immunity, including a preference of 21-nt vsiRNAs derived equally from the sense and antisense genomic strands, and a strong A/U bias in the 5′-terminus of the viral genomes. Our study provides valuable information for ISVs in leafhoppers for the first time, which might prove useful in the control of <i>C. viridis</i> in future.
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