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ARS Home » Midwest Area » West Lafayette, Indiana » Crop Production and Pest Control Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #153051
Title: USE OF DOUBLE-STRANDED RNA INTERFERENCE TO ASSESS THE ROLE OF A GST-LIKE GENE IN HESSIAN FLY ON ITS INTERACTION WITH WHEAT

Author
item YOSHIYAMA, MIKIO - PURDUE UNIVERSITY
item Shukle, Richard

Submitted to: Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/10/2003
Publication Date: 1/10/2003
Citation: Yoshiyama, M., Shukle, R.H. 2003. Use of double-stranded RNA interference to assess the role of a GST-like gene in hessian fly on its interaction with wheat. Plant and Animal Genome Conference Proceedings.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Hessian flies pose a significant economic threat to wheat in terms of reduced grain yield particularly in the eastern soft winter wheat region of the United States. Damage in wheat is due entirely to feeding by larvae. Infestation results in stunting and development of a dark green color in infested primary culms or tiller and can lead to the death of seedling plants. The planting of resistant varieties is the most economically and environmentally sound method of control and has been employed for the past 50 years. Resistance is expressed as larval antibiosis and is generally controlled by single genes that are partially to completely dominant. Virulence in the insect, ability of larvae to survive on and stunt plants is controlled by recessive genes at single loci and operates on a gene-for-gene basis with resistance. The selection of virulent biotypes of the Hessian fly capable of surviving on and stunting formally resistant wheat is the greatest threat to the durability of resistance. However, little is known about the molecular mechanism of resistance in wheat or the molecular basis of biotype evolution in the pest. Insect herbivores derive important protection against potentially toxic plant allelochemicals by having a complex of general-purpose defensive enzymes to overcome the potential toxicity of plants they eat. Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are enzymes involved in the detoxification of many molecules and probably in the transport of physiologically important lipophilic compounds. We describe here the application of double-stranded RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) to assess the role of a gene encoding a GST-like protein on the Hessian fly's interaction with its host plant.