ARS | Publication request: EXAMINING PLANT DEFENSE RESPONSES TO GREENBUG ATTACK IN SORGHUM USING DNA MICROARRAY TECHNOLOGY

Submitted to: International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: May 1, 2003
Publication Date: October 1, 2003
Citation: Huang, Y. 2003. Examining plant defense responses to greenbug attack in sorghum using dna microarray technology. International Sorghum and Millets Newsletter. 44:72-74.

Technical Abstract: Plant resistance to insects and pathogens depends on expression of defense genes as well as regulatory genes and is mediated via constitutive and induced defense mechanisms. Great progress has been made in studies of plant defense response against pathogens. In contrast, understanding of genetic resistance and related molecular events in plant defense responses to insect pests has lagged behind that of host-pathogen interactions. To gain novel insights in to the molecular mechanisms of plant resistance to insects, high-throughput parallel gene expression analysis, using cDNA microarray-based methods, has been used to examine gene expression patterns in young seedling of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) in response to greenbug feeding. This provided the opportunity to discover the genes that are regulated by insect feeding as defense gene expression dynamics in sorghum seedling during greenbug feeding. The large-scale cDNA microarray analyses of expression profiles of defense genes that respond to attack by virulent greebugs are underway.