Mechanisms involved in plant resistance to the green peach aphid Myzus persicae

桃长管蚜(Myzus Persicae)和其他食汁性昆虫，包括其他蚜虫、粉虱、木虱、蛙类、叶蝉、稻飞虱和美洲斑潜蝇，是世界范围内重要的经济害虫。它们不仅造成直接的取食损害，而且还传播所描述的所有植物病毒和各种重要的经济植物病原菌的一半以上(&gt；500)。最近的一个例子是一种由青蛙传播的细菌病原体(Xylella Fastidiosa)，它正在威胁意大利的橄榄树种植园，并可能传播到地中海的其他橄榄种植区(《卫报》，2015年1月8日)。虽然苏云金芽孢杆菌(Bt)毒素转基因作物(在美国、巴西和亚洲种植)对主要害虫(如飞蛾和甲虫)具有抗性，但Bt对食汁性昆虫无效。因此，在这些转基因作物上，取食汁液的害虫越来越多。仅GPA一项就在50多个植物科的400多种植物上定殖，这种蚜虫传播100多种不同的植物病毒，其中包括6种不同的甜菜病毒。GPA已经对71种不同的杀虫剂产生了抗药性，因此保持着所有昆虫中抗药性最强的记录。新烟碱类化合物是为数不多的能有效控制GPA的杀虫剂之一。然而，在欧洲的几个地区已经发现了对这些化学物质具有抗药性的GPA克隆。此外，由于消费者对杀虫剂对人类健康和生态系统的毒性的担忧，(欧盟和国家)立法日益严格，新烟碱类化合物正被从市场上撤下。如果不加以控制，GPA可能会使甜菜产量减少45%，使这种作物在欧洲变得不经济。据预测，其他易受GPA影响的作物也将面临类似的命运，包括油菜、西兰花、花椰菜、卷心菜、番茄、土豆、辣椒、甜菜等。为了减少杀虫剂的使用并保障欧洲和世界各地的粮食供应，控制GPA和其他食汁性昆虫的替代方法是必不可少的，例如培育出抗GPA的植物品种，这些方法至关重要，需要在未来几年内推出。我们预计这项提议的主要影响是实现这一目标的重大飞跃。方法：GPA和其他昆虫在它们的唾液中产生毒力蛋白(效应物)，这些蛋白与植物蛋白(靶标)相互作用，调节关键的植物过程，如植物防御反应，使植物更容易受到蚜虫的侵占。因此，我们希望通过转基因和非转基因方法将效应器不敏感的目标等位基因导入植物，通过防止效应器-靶标的相互作用来提高植物对蚜虫的抗性。如果该项目成功，将开辟大量新的途径来获得对GPA的抗性，并可能获得其他取食汁液的昆虫，多种重要的经济植物。该项目是与SESVanderHave UK Ltd(SV)的合作，SESVanderHave UK Ltd(SV)是一家领先的甜菜品种育种商，在全球范围内表现良好。这项提议的一个目标是让SV开发资源和技术，以便他们处于有利地位，利用这个项目中的新发现，更快地获得抗GPA的甜菜。目前，接受昆虫学、农业重要害虫和植物育种(组合)培训的学生数量很少。因此，我们将吸引年轻学生参与我们的项目。由于我们预计这个项目将提供一个例子，说明植物育种方法如何产生对虫害的可持续抗性，我们将组织外展活动，让植物育种者和多种作物的下游加工者参与我们的方法。

The green peach aphid (GPA) Myzus persicae and other sap-feeding insects, including other aphids, whiteflies, psyllids, froghoppers, leafhoppers, planthoppers and Lygus bugs, are economically important pests worldwide. They do not only cause direct feeding damage, but also transmit more than half (> 500) of all described plant viruses and a variety of economically important plant pathogenic bacteria. A recent example is a froghopper-transmitted bacterial pathogen (Xylella fastidiosa), which is threatening olive tree plantations in Italy and may spread to other olive-growing regions in the Mediterranean (the Guardian, 8 Jan 2015). Whereas Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxin transgenic crops (grown in USA, Brazil and Asia) are resistant to major pests, such as moths and beetles, Bt is not effective against sap-feeding insects. Therefore, sap-feeding insect pests have increased on these transgenic crops.GPA alone colonizes over 400 plant species of more than 50 plant families and this aphid species transmits more than 100 different plant viruses, including 6 distinct sugar beet viruses.Sap-feeding insects are predominantly controlled by extensive insecticide applications causing these insects to develop resistance to the insecticides. GPA has developed resistance to 71 different insecticides and, as such, holds the record of most insect resistances among all insects. Neonicotinoids are one of few insecticides that can effectively control GPA. However, GPA clones resistant to these chemicals have been identified in several parts of Europe. Moreover, neonicotinoids are being taken off the market owing to increasingly restrictive (EU and national) legislation fuelled by concerns of consumers about insecticide toxicity to human health and the ecosystem. Uncontrolled, GPA can reduce sugar beet yields by 45%, making this crop uneconomic in Europe. A similar fate is predicted for other crops susceptible to GPA, including oilseed rape, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, tomato, potato, pepper, sugar beet etc. To reduce insecticide use and safeguard the food supply in Europe and worldwide, alternative methods to control GPA and other sap-feeding insects, such as the generation of plant varieties that are resistant to GPA, are essential and need to become available in the coming few years. We anticipate that a major impact of this proposal is to make a major leap forward to achieve this goal.Approach: GPA and other insects produce virulence proteins (effectors) in their saliva that interact with plant proteins (targets) to modulate key plant processes, such as plant defense responses, that make the plants more susceptible to aphid colonization. Hence, we wish to increase plant resistance to aphids by preventing effector-target interactions through the introduction of effector-insensitive target alleles into plants using transgenic and non-transgenic approaches.If successful, this project will open up a plethora of new avenues to obtain resistance to GPA, and possibility other sap-feeding insects, of multiple economically important plant species. This project is a collaboration with SESVanderHave UK LTD (SV), a leading breeder of sugar beet varieties with a proven performance worldwide. A goal of this proposal is for SV to develop resources and technologies so that they will be in an excellent position to take advantage of the new discoveries made in this project and obtain GPA-resistance sugar beet more quickly. Currently low numbers of students are being trained in (a combination of) entomology, agriculturally important insect pests and plant breeding. Therefore, we will engage young students in our project. Since we anticipate that this project will provide an example of how plant-breeding approaches can generate sustainable resistance to insect pests, we will organize outreach activities to engage plants breeders and downstream processors of multiple crops in our approach.