ARS | Publication request: Next generation sequencing of the genomes of 11 international RWA biotypes

Submitted to: International Plant Resistance to Insects Workshop Abstracts & Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: March 1, 2012
Publication Date: April 3, 2012
Citation: Bothal, A.M., Burger, N.F., Castro, A.M., El-Bouhssini, M., Havelka, J., Jankielsohn, A., Lapitan, N.L., Peairs, F.B., Puterka, G.J., Smith, C.M., Stary, P., Zurovcova, M. 2012. Next generation sequencing of the genomes of 11 international RWA biotypes [abstract]. 20th Biennial International Plant Resistance to Insects Workshop, April 1-4, 2012, Minneapolis, MN. p. 29.

Technical Abstract: Scientists researching poorly characterized species struggle to gain understanding of the species they study on a sub-cellular level due to the time and investment required to build up an informative knowledge base. This becomes problematic when a poorly characterized species is a pest of a major economically important food crop, such as in the case of Russian wheat aphid (RWA) (Diuraphis noxia, Kurdjimov). This phloem sucking insect occurring in all major wheat producing centres of the world (except Australia) has been well studied, yet little molecular data has been acquired due to a lack of a solid foundation of available data to build on. Thus, we decided to sequence the genomes of 11 RWA biotypes sampled from South Africa, the USA, Argentina, Syria, and the Czech Republic. Genomic DNA was extracted, pooled and sequenced using both Roche's 454 sequencing and the ABI's SOLiD system with individual samples verified through using Sanger sequencing. Identifying individual biotypes would be possible, given that RWAs propagate in a clonal form in most, if not all, non-native countries. Our aims with this collaborative effort therefore are (1) to produce a representative sequence backbone of the RWA genome; (2) unlock the genomic complexities of this economically important cereal pest; (3) compare the genome of RWA to that of other arthropod genomes; and (4) to draw up a geographic distribution of RWA genealogy and so compare how biotype formation is driven in different areas if more specimens from areas other than those sampled can be obtained.