title: Engineering plants for aphid resistance: current status and future perspectives.
abstract: The current status of development of transgenic plants for improved aphid resistance, and the pros and cons of different strategies are reviewed and future perspectives are proposed. Aphids are major agricultural pests that cause significant yield losses of crop plants each year. Excessive dependence on insecticides for aphid control is undesirable because of the development of insecticide resistance, the potential negative effects on non-target organisms and environmental pollution. Transgenic plants engineered for resistance to aphids via a non-toxic mode of action could be an efficient alternative strategy. In this review, the distribution of major aphid species and their damages on crop plants, the so far isolated aphid-resistance genes and their applications in developments of transgenic plants for improved aphid resistance, and the pros and cons of these strategies are reviewed and future perspectives are proposed. Although the transgenic plants developed through expressing aphid-resistant genes, manipulating plant secondary metabolism and plant-mediated RNAi strategy have been demonstrated to confer improved aphid resistance to some degree. So far, no aphid-resistant transgenic crop plants have ever been commercialized. This commentary is intended to be a helpful insight into the generation and future commercialization of aphid-resistant transgenic crops in a global context.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Crop Sciences (ICS), Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS), Beijing, 100081, China.
authors.forename: Xiudao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Genping
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Siliang
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Youzhi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Lanqin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xia
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001042:Aphids; D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000235:genetics*; D004731:Endotoxins / Q000235:genetics; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D037102:Lectins / Q000235:genetics; D053858:Metabolic Networks and Pathways / Q000235:genetics; D010572:Pest Control, Biological / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified / Q000235:genetics*; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; D034622:RNA Interference
chemical_list: D000083722:Bacillus thuringiensis Toxins; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D004731:Endotoxins; D006460:Hemolysin Proteins; D037102:Lectins; D011480:Protease Inhibitors; C030956:insecticidal crystal protein, Bacillus Thuringiensis