Project Number: 1907-22000-021-19
Project Type: Nonfunded Cooperative Agreement

Start Date: Mar 12, 2012
End Date: Mar 11, 2017

Objective:
The collaboration with the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory will enable prelimary studies on investigating genetic differences in endosymbiotic bacteria that live within aphid vectors of plant viruses. Genetic differences discovered in the endosymbiotic bacteria can be expoited to develop novel virus disease management strategies and further our understanding of aphid vector biology on a range of agriculturally important crop plants.

Approach:
Genomic DNA isolated from the aphid Schizaphis graminum and the endosymbiotic bacteria Buchnera that reside within the aphid will be analyzed using SOLiD 4 sequencing according to standard methods for fragment libraries. DNA sequences from a vector and non-vector will be compared to identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (differences) between the aphid genotypes in aphid and bacterial genes. The approach will test the hypothesis that multiple genotypes of endosymbiotic bacteria reside within aphid vectors. The data may provide evidence to further support our published observations that genetic variation exists in the endosymbiotic bacteria in clonal aphid lineages, and that this variation is correlated to plant virus transmission effiency in aphid populations.