Salivary gland transcriptome of Cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora Koch
The cowpea aphid, Aphis craccivora (Hemiptera: Aphididae) is one of the most destructive insect pests of cowpea, peanut and other legumes in tropical and subtropical regions. During feeding, aphid penetrates the plant epidermis with their minute stylets, navigate through the intracellular space to reach the sieve elements to ingest phloem sap. However, in this stage aphid saliva undergoes an evolutionary warfare with plants. It is well known that aphid saliva contains effectors which mitigate the plant defense signaling pathways. Apart from that aphid saliva possess numerous digestive enzymes which modulates the plant secondary metabolites. Knowledge about salivary proteins and how they interact with plants is becoming increasingly important to build a new and effective cowpea aphid control strategies. However, this can be achieved by identifying salivary proteins using transcriptomics analysis of dissected aphid salivary glands. Taking this into an account this project aims at unravelling the aphid salivary gland transcriptome which aims at finding the potential effectors/ellicitors may be targeted for pest control strategies.