Master of Science / Department of Biochemistry / Gerald Reeck / Aphids mount a remarkable salivary secretion to overcome plant host defenses. Our group has previously reported a gene unique to aphids enriched in the salivary glands of the pea aphid A. pisum, C002, which is required for successful feeding on its host plant Vicia fava. Here I present an analysis of genetic variation within the available EST data for C002 in pea aphids. From 596 total ESTs, 332 are full-length, and segregate into 8 validated haplotypes based on the criteria I set in place to access the quality of EST data. Additionally, Armet, is a putative multi-functional gene implicated as a neurotrophic factor during development, and as a part of the unfolded protein response during stress. I employ RNA interference in the model organism T. castaneum to determine the effect of transcript knockdown during development from early in-star larval stages, through pupation, and its effect on adult emergence. I report that knockdown of Armet transcript significantly hinders the ability for beetles to emerge from the pupae.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/17148 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Heerman, Matthew C. |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
Page generated in 0.0019 seconds