Master of Science / Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics Interdepartmental Program / Gerald Reeck / Pea aphids (Acyrthosiphon pisum) are sap-sucking insects that feed on the phloem sap of
some plants of the family Fabaceae (legumes). Aphids feed on host plants by inserting their
stylets between plant cells to feed from phloem sap in sieve elements. Their feeding is of major
agronomical importance, as aphids cause hundreds of millions of dollars in crop damage
worldwide, annually.
Salivary gland transcripts from plant-fed and diet-fed pea aphids were studied by
RNASeq to analyze their expression. Most transcripts had higher expression in plant-fed pea
aphids, likely due to the need for saliva protein in the aphid/plant interaction.
Numerous salivary gland transcripts and saliva proteins have been identified in aphids,
including a glutathione peroxidase. Glutathione peroxidases are a group of enzymes with the purpose of protecting organisms from oxidative damage. Here, I present a bioinformatic analysis
of pea aphid expressed sequence tag libraries that identified four unique glutathione peroxidases
in pea aphids. One glutathione peroxidase, ApGPx1 has high expression in the pea aphid salivary
gland. Two glutathione peroxidase genes are present in the current annotation of the pea aphid
genome. My work indicates that the two genes need to be revised.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:KSU/oai:krex.k-state.edu:2097/32836 |
| Date | January 1900 |
| Creators | Aksamit, Matthew Stephen |
| Publisher | Kansas State University |
| Source Sets | K-State Research Exchange |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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