ARS | Publication request: MOLECULAR INTERACTIONS BETWEEN CROP PLANTS AND PHLOEM-FEEDING APHID

Submitted to: Society for Experimental Biology Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: June 15, 2005
Publication Date: July 11, 2005
Citation: Huang, Y. 2005. Molecular interactions between crop plants and phloem-feeding aphid [abstract]. In: Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology. Annual Meeting of the Society for Experimental Biology, July 11-15, 2005, Barcelona, Spain. 141A(3):Suppl. p. S229.

Technical Abstract: Greenbug (Schiaphis graminum), a phloem-feeding insect, is a dominant insect pest that attacks several cereal crops including sorghum, barley and wheat. Using greenbug and sorghum as the model, our current studies focus on molecular plant-aphid interactions. Plants express an array of defenses in response to pest attack through a dramatic functional adjustment and re-programming of gene expression. In this study, genome-wide microarrays and functional genomics were used to comprehensively examine gene expression during plant defense responses that were triggered by greenbug feeding. Over 8,200 unique sorghum cDNA clones selected by suppression subtractive hybridization were arrayed on glass slides using robotic printing, and then hybridized with fluorescent labeled probes prepared with RNAs from resistant and susceptible lines as well as the RNAs from plants before and during infestation. In this way, a large number of differentially expressed genes were identified by cDNA microarrays. Their differential expression patterns were confirmed by two validation technologies: northern blotting and real time PCR. Comparison of the transcriptional profiles in the parallel assays revealed distinct expression patterns among these assays, reflecting that the resistant and susceptible sorghum plants differentially responded to infestation by virulent greebugs at the molecular level. Information of generated in the studies opened doors to new levels of understanding of plant-pest interactions. Integration of gene expression data into biochemical or metabolic characteristics allow a logical interpretation of the cross-talk between different defense pathways governing defense gene expression and of diversity of proteins involved in resistance and susceptibility in this crop.