A Dual RNA-Seq Analysis Revealed Dynamic Arms Race during the Infestation of Wheat by the English Grain Aphid (Sitobion avenae)

Sitobion avenae is an important pest that threatens the safety of wheat production in China. However, the resistance mechanisms of wheat to S. avenae are not well understood at present. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms of interaction between wheat and S. avenae at four infestation time points (6, 24, 48, and 72 hpi) using a high-resolution time series dual transcriptomic analysis. The results showed that plant hormone signal transduction, phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, and flavonoid biosynthesis pathways were significantly activated in the wheat spike of Lunxuan144 during S. avenae infestation. Meanwhile, the functional analysis of the S. avenae transcriptome revealed that some secretory proteins participated in wheat-S. avenae interaction. This study sheds light on the arms race process between S. avenae and wheat, laying the foundation for the green prevention of S. avenae and providing a theoretical basis for mining the key functional genes in both wheat and S. avenae.