Reduced phloem uptake of Myzus persicae on an aphid resistant pepper accession

Mengjing Sun, Roeland E. Voorrips, Greet Steenhuis-Broers, Wendy van't Westende, Ben Vosman*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

48 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Background: The green peach aphid (GPA), Myzus persicae, is economically one of the most threatening pests in pepper cultivation, which not only causes direct damage but also transmits many viruses. Breeding aphid resistant pepper varieties is a promising and environmentally friendly method to control aphid populations in the field and in the greenhouse. Until now, no strong sources of resistance against the GPA have been identified. Therefore the main aims of this study were to identify pepper materials with a good level of resistance to GPA and to elucidate possible resistance mechanisms. Results: We screened 74 pepper accessions from different geographical areas for resistance to M. persicae. After four rounds of evaluation we identified one Capsicum baccatum accession (PB2013071) as highly resistant to M. persicae, while the accessions PB2013062 and PB2012022 showed intermediate resistance. The resistance of PB2013071 resulted in a severely reduced uptake of phloem compared to the susceptible accession, as determined by Electrical Penetration Graph (EPG) studies. Feeding of M. persicae induced the expression of callose synthase genes and resulted in callose deposition in the sieve elements in resistant, but not in susceptible plants. Conclusions: Three aphid resistant pepper accessions were identified, which will be important for breeding aphid resistant pepper varieties in the future. The most resistant accession PB2013071 showed phloem-based resistance against aphid infestation.

Original languageEnglish
Article number138
JournalBMC Plant Biology
Volume18
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 27 Jun 2018

Keywords

  • Aphid resistance screening
  • Callose
  • Capsicum baccatum
  • EPG
  • Real-time PCR

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