Functional role of the Myzus persicae (Green Peach Aphid) effector repertoire in host plant manipulation.

蚜虫是一种食汁性昆虫，会造成广泛的取食危害，达到高种群密度，并在世界范围内传播重要的经济植物疾病。这些昆虫对主食和生物能源作物造成重大经济损失，包括土豆、大豆、谷物和油菜。由于环境变化和对杀虫剂使用限制的增加，预计未来蚜虫侵扰将会增加。为了开发持久的方法并实现对蚜虫流行的可持续控制，在分子水平上了解蚜虫的寄生是至关重要的。这里的关键问题是：蚜虫在寄主植物内传递什么蛋白质来实现侵染？蚜虫是如何影响寄主细胞进程的？我们能否培育出对蚜虫具有持久抗药性的作物品种，从而减少对杀虫剂的依赖？像大多数植物寄生虫一样，蚜虫需要与宿主密切联系才能获得营养。蚜虫有专门的口器和口针，它们用来探测不同类型的植物细胞，并以植物维管系统中的植物汁液为食。有趣的是，蚜虫取食会导致植物维管系统中韧皮部筛分元件的堵塞，而在成功的寄主相互作用中，这一过程会被蚜虫抑制。此外，例如，蚜虫可以通过诱导卷叶或形成瘤来扰乱植物的发育过程。抑制植物防御和改变寄主生理在植物病原菌中是常见的，通常涉及病原体分子或效应物分泌到操纵植物细胞过程的寄主植物中。这种对植物细胞过程的操纵可能包括抑制寄主防御以及改变植物细胞过程，以通过靶向特定的植物(防御)蛋白来促进营养物质的释放。最近的证据表明，与其他植物寄生虫一样，蚜虫也会分泌与植物病原菌效应器功能相同的效应器。在5000多种蚜虫中，桃蚜是世界上最具破坏性的害虫之一，部分原因是它的寄主范围广泛，跨越数百种不同的植物。这一寄主范围包括重要的农作物，包括土豆，以及模式植物烟草和拟南芥，这些植物有一套广泛的实验工具和资源。在这个项目中，我们的目标是识别来自桃蚜的效应物，并表征它们在植物侵染中的作用。更具体地说，我们将在N.benthamiana植物中进行功能分析，以确定新的(候选)桃树根结线虫效应器。为了研究蚜虫效应器在植物细胞操纵中的作用，我们将在本氏拟青霉和马铃薯中鉴定直接靶向并可能被桃蚜效应器修饰的植物蛋白。此外，我们还将确定已确定的烟粉虱效应植物靶标对植物侵染的贡献。该项目的预期结果将使人们能够全面了解蚜虫侵染植物的策略。具体地说，这项工作将涉及植物和昆虫蛋白质在经济上的重要相互作用。了解以蚜虫为靶标的植物细胞过程和寄生所需的效应器将有助于开发新的和可持续的防治策略，以提高作物产量和减少杀虫剂的使用。

Aphids are sap-feeding insects that induce extensive feeding damage, achieve high population densities and transmit economically important plant diseases worldwide. These insects cause significant economic losses in staple food and bioenergy crops, including potato, soybean, cereals, and oilseed rape. Aphid infestations are expected to increase in the future as a result of environmental changes and increased restrictions on the use of pesticides. To develop durable approaches and achieve sustainable control of aphid epidemics, it is critical to understand aphid parasitism at the molecular level. Key questions herein are: What proteins do aphids deliver inside host plants to enable infestation? How do aphids affect host cell processes? Can we generate crop varieties that have durable resistance to aphids, and thereby reduce dependence on pesticides? Like most plant parasites, aphids require intimate associations with their hosts to gain access to nutrients. Aphids have specialized mouthparts, stylets, which they use to probe different plant cell types, and to feed on plant sap in the plant vascular system. Interestingly, aphid feeding induces clogging of phloem sieve elements in the plant vascular system, which is suppressed by aphids in successful host interactions. Furthermore, aphids can perturb plant developmental processes by, for example, inducing leaf curling or the formation of galls. Suppression of plant defences and altering host physiology is common among plant pathogens and generally involves the secretion of pathogen molecules, or effectors, into host plants that manipulate plant cellular processes. This manipulation of plant cell processes may involve suppression of host defences as well as altering plant cellular processes to promote the release of nutrients through targeting of specific plant (defence) proteins. Recent evidence suggests that aphids, like other plant parasites, secrete effectors that share functional features with plant pathogen effectors. Among the over 5000 aphid species, Myzus persicae (green peach aphid) is one of the most destructive pests worldwide, partly due to its broad host range that spans hundreds of different plant species. This host range includes important crop plants, including potato, as well as model plants Nicotiana benthamiana and Arabidopsis thaliana for which an extensive set of experimental tools and resources are available. In this project, we aim to identify effectors from the aphid species M. persicae and characterize their role in plant infestation. More specifically, we will perform functional assays in N. benthamiana plants to identify novel (candidate) M. persicae effectors. To investigate the role of aphid effectors in plant cell manipulation, we will identify the plant proteins in N. benthamiana and potato that are directly targeted, and potentially modified, by M. persicae effectors. Also, we will determine the contribution of identified M. persicae effector plant targets to plant infestation. The expected results of this project will allow a comprehensive view of the strategies that aphids employ to infest plants. Specifically, this work will implicate plant and insect proteins in an economically important interaction. An understanding of the plant cellular processes targeted by aphids and the effectors required for parasitism will facilitate the development of novel and sustainable aphid control strategies to increase crop yield and reduce pesticide usage.