Genetic and Association Mapping Study of English Grain Aphid Resistance and Tolerance in Bread Wheat Germplasm

English grain aphid （EGA） is a destructive insect pest of wheat. To identify the loci associated with EGA resistance and tolerance, 70 bread wheat accessions mainly from central Asia were evaluated for EGA resistance and tolerance traits at two locations, and genotyped with 51 SSR markers. Totally, three accessions showed high or moderate levels resistance and 17 genotypes displayed highly or moderately tolerate to EGA. Genetic diversity of these lines was investigated also. After 97 SSR loci which evenly covered all wheat chromosomes were scanned for association, four SSR loci were significantly associated with EGA resistance and four with EGA tolerance. After association analysis was conducted with dynamic aphid densities, we found four loci Xgwm192b, Xgwm391, Xbarc98, and Xgwm613b were detected continuously at different growing stages of wheat. In addition, the loci of EGA resistance/tolerance and Russian wheat aphid resistance were compared. The results generated in this study would be helpful for utilization of the EGA resistance/tolerance germplasm, and for development of mapping populations in EGA resistance breeding programs.

Resistance in Barley (<i>Hordeum vulgare</i>L.) to New Invasive Aphid, Hedgehog Grain Aphid (<i>Sipha maydis</i>, Passerini) (Hemiptera: Aphididae)

Sipha maydis Passerini (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is a pest of cereals in many regions of the world and was identified as an invasive pest of the US in 2007. Regional surveys from 2015-2017 revealed this pest was broadly distributed throughout many of the western Great Plains states where it is a potential threat to cereal production. The common name hedgehog grain aphid, HGA, has been associated with Sipha maydis in the US. Cross-resistance where a plant is resistant to one aphid species and is also resistant to another species that is known to occur. Six barleys were evaluated for cross-resistance to HGA: Russian wheat aphid, RWA, resistant germplasms STARS 9301B and STARS 9577B and cultivar “Mesa”;greenbug, GB, resistant germplasm STARS 1501B and cultivar “Post 90”;and RWA and GB resistant experimental line 00BX 11-115. Cultivars “Morex” and “Schuyler” were susceptible controls. Antixenosis was measured 5 days after infestation by HGA. Seedling damage ratings and reductions in seedling growth were recorded after 17 days of infestation. Intrinsic rate of increase, rm, of HGA was determined by following the development of newborn aphids to adulthood and reproduction. 00BX 11-115 and Post 90 had significantly greater antixenosis (fewer aphids/seedling), significantly lower plant damage ratings, and significantly lower intrinsic rates of increase than other entries. Differences in seedling growth were not significant. 00BX 11-115 and Post 90 were the only entries with the Rsg1 greenbug resistance gene. Rsg1 greenbug resistance confers cross-resistance to HGA in the seedling stage.

Responses of Wheat (Triticum aestivum) to Grain Aphid (Sitobion avenae) Infestation and Mechanical Wounding Using a cDNA Subtractitve Library Approach

Aphids are major insect pests of cereal crops, acting as virus vectors as well as causing direct damage. The responses of commercial wheat (cv. Claire) to grain aphid (Sitobion avenae) infestation and mechanical wounding were investigated in this study, with the aim to eventually identify a source of molecular markers to breed wheat for enhanced insect resistance, and in particular for enhanced resistance to phloem-feeding insects. Mechanical wounding was included in this study as a comparison with aphid feeding to distinguish between insect-specific responses in wheat plants to those involved in a general wounding response. Wheat (Triticum spp.) is known to have partial resistance toward aphids [1]. The plant response and defence against insect feeding are complicated, but always follow the same principle: insect detection, signal transmission to initiate defence, changes in plant gene expression and subsequent production of defensive compounds, which may be targeted to the wound site to deter or kill insects. Defensive gene products/proteins reach the target area and deter or kill insects. Whether the last step is successful or not depends on the resistance and susceptibility of the plant towards that particular pest. In the light of this principle, it is important to detect changes in gene expression, first at the transcriptional level, which is useful for detection of early-stage responses, and then once sufficient time is allowed for the plant to produce defensive gene products, responses at the proteome level can be identified. Work presented in this study focuses on the changes at the transcriptional level;differential responses at the proteome level were investigated and presented in Ferry et al. 2011 [2] and Guan et al. 2015 [3]. Two cDNA subtractive hybridization libraries were constructed, one to identify transcripts involved in the responses to aphid infestation, and the second to identify transcripts involved in responses to mechanical wounding. Following subtractive hybridization, 520 and 800 clones were obtained from the subtractive hybridization between aphid-infested and un-infested wheat cDNAs and between mechanically wounded and un-wounded wheat cDNAs, respectively. Over 70% of the total clones were sequenced and 44% and 55% of sequenced clones were successfully identified by homology to known sequences held at NCBI with Blastx search engine in aphid-infested vs un-infested and mechanically wounded vs un-wounded cDNA subtractive libraries, respectively. These results reveal that the differences in the response of commercial wheat (cv. Claire) plants towards aphid infestation and mechanical wounding are subtle. Although the majority of differentially expressed putative genes after aphid infestation or mechanical wounding were involved in metabolic processes and photosynthesis, the majority of the genes expressed were different. Genes encoding glutathione transferase (GST), apoptosis and proteolysis were up-regulated after aphid feeding, suggesting their importance towards plant defence/tolerance against aphid attack. These results suggest that commercial wheat does have a certain degree of tolerance to aphids, but appears to lack a specific response to aphids;these findings are supported by those presented in Ferry et al. 2011 [2].

Diversity, frequency, and geographic distribution of facultative bacterial endosymbionts in introduced aphid pests

Facultative bacterial endosymbionts in insects have been under intense study during the last years. Endosymbionts can modify the insect＇s phenotype, conferring adap- tive advantages under environmental stress. This seems particularly relevant for a group of worldwide agricultural aphid pests, because endosymbionts modify key fitness-related traits, including host plant use, protection against natural enemies and heat tolerance. Aimed to understand the role of facultative endosymbionts on the success of introduced aphid pests, the distribution and abundance of 5 facultative endosymbionts （Hamiltonella defensa, Regiella insecticola, Serratia symbiotica, Rickettsia and Spiroplasma） were stud- ied and compared in 4 cereal aphids （Sitobion avenae, Diuraphis noxia, Metopolophium dirhodum and Schizaphis graminium） and in the pea aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum complex from 2 agroclimatic zones in Chile. Overall, infections with faeultative endosymbionts exhibited a highly variable and characteristic pattern depending on the aphid species/host race and geographic zone, which could explain the success of aphid pest populations after their introduction. While S. symbiotica and H. defensa were the most frequent endosym- bionts carried by the A. pisum pea-race and A. pisum alfalfa-race aphids, respectively, the most frequent facultative endosymbiont carried by all cereal aphids was R. insecticola. Interestingly, a highly variable composition of endosymbionts carried by S. avenae was also observed between agroclimatic zones, suggesting that endosymbionts are responding differentially to abiotic variables （temperature and precipitations）. In addition, our findings constitute the first report of bacterial endosymbionts in cereal aphid species not screened before, and also the first report of aphid endosymbionts in Chile.