Table 2. PCR primer sets used in this study.

Gene	Primer set	Nucleotide sequence (5′→3′)	Expected size (bp)	Reference
Rickettsia 16S rRNA	Rb-F1513-R	GCTCAGAACGAACGCTATCACGGYTACCTTGTTACGACTT	∼1500	[25]
Rickettsia gltA	409-F1273-R	CCTATGGCTATTATGCTTGC CATAACCAGTGTAAAGCTG	∼850	[40]
Rickettsia RickA	Trp4-FBcr-RRicka5-FaRicka3-Ra	GGATTATCTCTCTCATATTTG TCTGCTGCTGCGTTTTATTAT ATGGCAAAGATAACTGAGCT CTACCTTTGTTGAGATTGTT	∼1500	This paper. Designed based on Rickettsia bellii genome (NCBI accession NC_007940)
Rickettsia GroEL	RGEL-508-FRGEL-stop-R	GGCAAAGAAGGCGTAATAACTG TTAGAAGTCCATACCTCCCA	∼1100	[41]
Portiera 16S rRNA (real-time quantitative PCR)	Port73-FPort266-R	GTGGGGAATAACGTACGG CTCAGTCCCAGTGTGGCTG	∼195	This paper. Designed based on Portiera aleyrodidarum genome
Actin B. tabaci (real-time quantitative PCR)	Wf-B actin-FWf-B actin-R	TCTTCCAGCCATCCTTCTTG CGGTGATTTCCTTCTGCATT	∼200	[42]
Hamiltonella dnaK (real-time quantitative PCR)	dnaK-FdnaK-R	GGTTCAGAAAAAAGTGGCAG CGAGCGAAAGAGGAGTGAC	∼200	[43]
Rickettsia gltA (real-time quantitative PCR)	glt375-Fglt574-R	TGGTATTGCATCGCTTTGGG TTTCTTTAAGCACTGCAGCACG	∼200	This paper. Designed based on Rickettsia bellii genome (NCBI accession NC_007940)

^aInternal primers.