Insect Science (2014) 21, 727-740

Adriana E. Alvarez, Anahí M. Alberti D'Amato, W. Fred Tjallingii, Marcel Dicke and Ben Vosman (2014)
Response of Solanum tuberosum to Myzus persicae infestation at different stages of foliage maturity
Insect Science 21 (6), 727-740
Abstract: Young leaves of the potato Solanum tuberosum L. cultivar Kardal contain resistance factors to the green peach aphid Myzus persicae (Sulzer) (Hemiptera: Aphididae) and normal probing behavior is impeded. However, M. persicae can survive and reproduce on mature and senescent leaves of the cv. Kardal plant without problems. We compared the settling of M. persicae on young and old leaves and analyzed the impact of aphids settling on the plant in terms of gene expression. Settling, as measured by aphid numbers staying on young or old leaves, showed that after 21 h significantly fewer aphids were found on the young leaves. At earlier time points there were no difference between young and old leaves, suggesting that the young leaf resistance factors are not located at the surface level but deeper in the tissue. Gene expression was measured in plants at 96 h postinfestation, which is at a late stage in the interaction and in compatible interactions this is long enough for host plant acceptance to occur. In old leaves of cv. Kardal (compatible interaction), M. persicae infestation elicited a higher number of differentially regulated genes than in young leaves. The plant response to aphid infestation included a larger number of genes induced than repressed, and the proportion of induced versus repressed genes was larger in young than in old leaves. Several genes changing expression seem to be involved in changing the metabolic state of the leaf from source to sink.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied with permission by the publisher.)
Link to article at publishers website
Database assignments for author(s): Ben Vosman, Marcel Dicke, Adriana E. Alvarez, W. Fred Tjallingii

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
resistance/tolerance/defence of host

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Myzus persicae	Potato (Solanum tuberosum)